The Well-Traveled Road Effect
Familiar routes feel shorter due to routine, causing underestimation of travel time for habitual journeys and overestimation for new ones.
THE IDEA
The “well-traveled road” effect
The “well-traveled road” is why we underestimate the time it takes to get to work on our everyday drive, but arrive at the airport hours early for a trip you’ve never taken before. “Well-traveled roads,” or routes you travel on a daily basis, feel shorter than a trip you’ve never made before, psychologists claim. As a result, humans appear to underestimate the time it takes to travel a routine route, but overestimate the time it takes to travel on a new road. This has to do with the impression that “time flies” when you indulge in automatic, routine tasks.
When to use it
Commute planning: Account for 'well-traveled road' bias by tracking actual travel times over a week.
Project management: For routine tasks, add a buffer to avoid underestimating time.
Travel planning: Compare estimates for an unfamiliar route with route information rather than assuming that unfamiliarity makes your estimate accurate.
Personal productivity: Use time-tracking apps to build accurate mental models of routine activities.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Daily Commute vs. Airport Trip
You estimate that your usual drive to work takes 20 minutes, though it often takes 30. For a hypothetical trip to an unfamiliar airport, you allow 3 hours for a drive that actually takes 45 minutes. The contrast concerns estimated travel time, not the time needed at the airport.
Grocery Store Routine
You can do your weekly grocery shopping on autopilot, and the trip seems quick. But a first visit to a new supermarket in an unfamiliar area feels longer and makes you allocate extra time.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Recall a regular route you take (e.g., to work, school, or the gym). Do you consistently underestimate or overestimate the time it takes?
Think of a recent trip you took to a new location. Did you plan extra time compared to an experienced traveler? Why?
How can you adjust your daily schedule to account for the routine time perception bias?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- 60 Cognitive Biases That Ruin Everything We Do by David Scott