Imagine that you are walking through your apartment without a clear goal when you notice a screw sticking out of one of your cupboards.

“That is dangerous,” you think to yourself. “Someone could catch their finger on that. I should tighten that screw.”

Because you are a man^[1] of action, you fetch your toolbox and set to work (one thing). However, on close inspection, the screw is one of those thrice-damned Torx screws and you lent your Torx bits to your brother last month.

Getting slightly worked up, you go to the nearest home improvement shop to get a new one (two things). It’s only when you can’t find the screwdriver you’re looking for (and asking one of the elusive employees yielded no results) and you realize that you will have to order a new screwdriver (three things) that you remember this very important life lesson.

Every Thing is Three Things

Or, put differently:

Every task you set out to do will present more challenges than initially anticipated.

Every task you attempt usually produces two additional tasks.^[2] The reason for this is easily identified: the original task was not sufficiently thought through. The more diligently you think through a task on your list, the more sub-tasks you will find (similar to the Coastline Paradox) that stand in your way before completing what you set out to do.

You want to borrow a screwdriver from a friend, on the way to his house you find your car without gas, and realize only in the gas-station that you forgot your wallet.

You order an item online, but the delivery company doesn’t find you home upon delivery, so they deliver it to a nearby store. When you walk over to the shop to get your package, you find that they are closed for renovations today only.

Every Thing is Three Things, similar to Parkinson’s Law, holds true even if you try to account for this fact.

Working with ETTT

Taking ETTT into account when planning your day won’t fix your problem. Sometimes, things can be three things fractally, meaning each sub-task will turn out to require three additional tasks. After all, The Work of the World is Never Done.

However, keeping it in the back of your head when you set out to accomplish your goals can proof useful. It helps shift your mindset to a place where you don’t throw the tool down in frustration whenever you encounter your first obstacle.

Also, it will help you allot more time to a task than you think you will need — and who knows…maybe you even finish all three things in that timeframe.