67: Parkinson's Law Voodoo & How To Use It To Your Advantage

Work expands to fill the time available for its completion. If you’re into productivity, you’ll know this proverb as Parkinson’s Law. This interesting statement was made by Cyril Northcote Parkinson, the famous British historian and author, in 1955. Parkinson’s Law – work expands to fill the time available for its completion – means that if you give yourself a week to complete a two hour task, then (psychologically speaking) the task will increase in complexity and become more daunting so as to fill that week. It may not even fill the extra time with more work, but just stress and tension about having to get it done. By assigning the right amount of time to a task, we gain back more time and the task will reduce in complexity to its natural state. Parkinson’s Law is an observation, not some voodoo magic. It works because people give tasks longer than they really need.    Here are some tips to help you use Parkinson's Law to your advantage since we know how it works now:  Work without your computer charger.  Use the Pomodoro technique. Restrict your time artificially by moving  your location throughout the day. Create a task list to get done at each spot. Make a rule to do XYZ before 9am. Get it done early and then let yourself have some freedom. Get an accountability partner who will force you to pay up, literally, if you work past a certain time or take too long to do something - create a financial consequence.  Set a hard deadline. Cut your deadlines in half.  Limit tasks like responding to email to thirty minutes a day - set a timer.