I blame a romanticized memory of running my last startup. I easily remember the good moments and have to dig for the bad memories. But they're there.
Then I determine how much bandwidth I want to allocate on those tasks. Without a time constraint, it’s tempting to say, "let's do it all." Constraints breed creativity.Big Rock. That translated to 28 hours per week, or 5.6 hrs per day, focused on my objective. Knowing that there are limited few hours to accomplish the goal forced me to think and focus my energy.
At the end of each week, I perform a retrospective against my objective. Was I able to accomplish the goal? If not, why? Did I budget enough time to accomplish the objective? Did I underestimate the impact of the chosen activities? This exercise helps me quickly change directions as I plan next week's goal.