Au contraire! Almost all the time you spend doing the thing is actually doing the things required before the final completion of the thing. I've taken to calling this "the work before the work" and it's at least 90% of the work.

Example: I get asked at the start of a project to provide ModbusTCP comms mapping for a new control panel, so that the client can start integrating it into their SCADA system. It's just a spreadsheet, maybe 100 rows, how hard could it be? They need it right now, why am I telling them it'll take 6 months?

Typing the addresses and descriptions into the spreadsheet is 'the work', and it only takes an afternoon, but it can't start until we do the work before the work:

- To document the ModbusTCP mapping I need to the PLC program

- To finish the PLC program I need the electrical drawings

- To finish the electrical drawings, the electrical engineer needs the device list, datasheets for all the devices, and the functional spec

- To finish the device list and functional spec, we need to agree with the client exactly what we're building and what it's meant to do

None of these things are 'the work' but all of them are 'the work before the work' and usually nobody wants to do, to wait for, or pay for this work.