The Start Time Has Been Moved by Five Minutes
A task acquires a new start time every five minutes, compounding interest on itself indefinitely.
Evidence
The subject stated, at 2:14 PM, that work would begin in five minutes.
At 2:19 PM the subject had not begun work. The subject had instead opened a new tab containing an article about productivity. The article was not read in full. It was read until it produced a feeling of mild guilt, which was interpreted as motivation.
At 2:24 PM the subject announced, to no one, that the work would begin once the coffee finished brewing. The coffee had been brewing since 2:11 PM. It was finished.
Findings
Under the governing rule, a task may be delayed if the delay can be renamed planning, setup, research, or reset.
The five-minute start delay works because it is not called a delay. It is called a transition. The difference is institutional. One is a failure of will. The other is a recognized period of preparation that anyone might require.
The transition period does not shorten the task. It does not change the task. It generates smaller adjacent tasks that may be completed during the transition, which creates evidence of productive activity and reduces the social cost of the transition.
These adjacent tasks have their own transition periods.
Outcome
The original task was eventually completed. It took longer than expected.
The production line of adjacent tasks was dismantled over several subsequent days, during which the original task was described, in conversation, as something that had recently been completed.
The next difficult task will also begin in five minutes.