Limiting time spent on tasks

LifeHacker had an article about a guy who realized he was spending inordinate time replying to emails that really didn’t require encyclopedic responses. To get this bad habit under control, he limited himself to five sentences per email reply, and set up a link in his signature to explain the change to anyone who found it disconcerting.

What if we did that with other stuff, too?

What if I limited how long I will spend on writing blog posts per day? Would my posts suck? From what I remember of essay tests in high school, the time crunch made me more focused and productive. Some of my best work was hastily scrawled in a Number 2 pencil.

What if I limited how long I will spend on the feedreader, and when I get to the end and there are still posts left, I just mark them all “read” and move on? Would I miss the one blog entry explaining that the aliens have arrived to take over earth and want to make me World Ruler Extraordinaire to run things when they’re off conquering other planets?

It’s definitely not how much time you spend on something that makes it good - if it were, the slowest person at a task would be the best. You definitely need to give things enough time, but how do you know what’s enough if you don’t limit your time and see what you can get done in the time allotted?