What I actually got wrong estimating how long evidence-gathering would take

My initial estimate for how long gathering and organizing evidence would take was, in hindsight, roughly half of what it actually required — sharing this honestly since I think optimistic initial estimates are common and worth planning around rather than being surprised by. What I underestimated specifically: the time required for external dependencies (reference letters, document authentication, translation) that don't scale with my own effort — I could work harder on my own tasks, but couldn't meaningfully speed up someone else's response time. I also underestimated how much time genuine reflection and reorganization would take once I could see my evidence laid out as a whole, versus just the initial gathering itself. If you're building your own timeline estimate: I'd build in a real buffer beyond your gut-feel estimate, specifically accounting for the parts of the process that depend on other people's time, not just your own — that's where my estimate went most wrong.