Concept
Build in Buffer
Building in buffer means deliberately adding a protected reserve of time to your most important work, so the delays you can't predict don't derail what matters most.
We almost always underestimate how long things take. This is the planning fallacy, and knowing we've been late many times before doesn't cure it. In Essentialism, Greg McKeown argues the fix isn't trying harder but planning differently: assume something will go wrong, and make room for it before it does. His practical rule is to add 50% to your time estimate for anything essential. The buffer only works if it's protected. Fill it with a new meeting and it's gone. This isn't pessimism. It's refusing to let your most important work depend on luck. Buffer has a twin move: find the single biggest obstacle in the way and remove it first, instead of pushing against everything at once. Together they turn a plan that only works in perfect conditions into one that survives a normal week.
A real-life example
Maya owes a client a report on Friday. She estimates two days of work, so normally she'd start Wednesday. This time she starts Monday and blocks Thursday afternoon as untouchable reserve. On Tuesday the client's data arrives late and full of errors. Maya spends half a day cleaning it up. She still delivers on Friday at noon, calm, instead of at midnight with an apology.
How to use it
- 1Take your estimate for the essential task and add 50%. Set your start date from that number, not the optimistic one.
- 2Block the extra time on your calendar as a named reserve, and refuse to schedule anything new into it.
- 3Ask, "What's the one obstacle most likely to stop this?" Then remove it before anything else.