Managing Time and Managing Expectations: Two Sides of the Same Coin

This spring I carried the largest client roster I’ve had in the five years since I started my business. (Champagne problems, I know.) It means the work is resonating, clients are saying yes, and there’s real momentum happening. That felt amazing! But it also was hard. 

Doing hard things is how you grow. It’s how you learn. And Jeeze Louise, did I learn something major. You have to set the tone early when it comes to expectations — especially around timeline. 

Clarity is Kindness 

The truth of the matter is that everyone always feels like the sky is falling – that they need help and they need it now. The other truth is that you only have so many hours in a day and so many resources at your disposal. You can’t drop everything just because someone wants you to. You’ll never get anything done. 

What you can do, is set the tone early. Lay out exactly what you can help with and when you can help. When people know what to expect, they can make informed decisions. But telling people that you can help them when you don’t have the bandwidth to do so only hurts a relationship. Leaving people disappointed breaks down trust. It signals that you’re not reliable and that your word isn’t meaningful. 

Setting expectations early on builds trust. It signals that you value that person’s time and energy. That you trust their decisions and know they can decide what is best for them. 

How To Set Expectations 

There’s a version of me, five years ago, that would say yes quickly and figure it out later. I would overwork and create unnecessary stress because I didn’t know how to set expectations. What I’ve learned is that the key is naming assumptions and working through them. Now when someone asks me for something, I take a moment. I fully map out what it would take for me to complete it and think through what assumptions each of us is likely making. Then when I respond, I can be specific about what “done” actually requires and ask questions on points that need to be clarified.  

The goal of managing expectations isn’t to slow things down or tell people their ask isn’t possible. It’s to deliver work that meets the moment. Because at the end of the day, people don’t expect perfection. But they do expect clarity. And when you get that right, deadlines become a lot easier to meet. 

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