Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.~ Parkinson's Law
Are you familiar with Parkinson's Law? It makes great sense and when we understand it we can become much more productive. I like to use this law in conjunction with time blocking where we give ourselves a certain amount of time to complete a project.
Let me give you an example. When we decide a project will take 15 minutes and set a timer for 15 minutes we can accomplish this task in the allotted time. On the other hand if we allow ourselves 2 hours for the same task it will take us 2 hours to complete.
I've used the example of an acquaintance working to complete a contract. He knew he had an hour to complete it so he allowed himself that full hour to get it done. At the same time he was doing other things, checking email, reading the paper, visiting social media and eating breakfast. Since he had the full hour and he knew he could get it done in 20 minutes he allowed himself time to do many different things. I suggested he use a time block and get the contract done in that specific amount of time and then use the extra 40 minutes in the hour for other important tasks.
Do you wonder why it takes all day to write a paper but the majority of the paper is written in the last hour? Again this is an example of Parkinson's Law. When we give ourselves the full day for the paper we use all that time but really do the bulk of the work in the last hour.
Being mindful of Parkinson's Law allows us to decide how long a particular task will take and then set ourselves up complete the task. Actually if we tighten that amount of time for the task we will probably get it done even more efficiently. This doesn't mean we are working at break neck speed with tons of added stress instead it means we are working most efficiently without a lot of distrcations. (click here for 5 Simple Ways to Cut Down Distractions)
Now that's an easy way to be more productive and find greater success each day.
Are you familiar with Parkinson's Law? It makes great sense and when we understand it we can become much more productive. I like to use this law in conjunction with time blocking where we give ourselves a certain amount of time to complete a project.
Let me give you an example. When we decide a project will take 15 minutes and set a timer for 15 minutes we can accomplish this task in the allotted time. On the other hand if we allow ourselves 2 hours for the same task it will take us 2 hours to complete.
I've used the example of an acquaintance working to complete a contract. He knew he had an hour to complete it so he allowed himself that full hour to get it done. At the same time he was doing other things, checking email, reading the paper, visiting social media and eating breakfast. Since he had the full hour and he knew he could get it done in 20 minutes he allowed himself time to do many different things. I suggested he use a time block and get the contract done in that specific amount of time and then use the extra 40 minutes in the hour for other important tasks.
Do you wonder why it takes all day to write a paper but the majority of the paper is written in the last hour? Again this is an example of Parkinson's Law. When we give ourselves the full day for the paper we use all that time but really do the bulk of the work in the last hour.
Being mindful of Parkinson's Law allows us to decide how long a particular task will take and then set ourselves up complete the task. Actually if we tighten that amount of time for the task we will probably get it done even more efficiently. This doesn't mean we are working at break neck speed with tons of added stress instead it means we are working most efficiently without a lot of distrcations. (click here for 5 Simple Ways to Cut Down Distractions)
Now that's an easy way to be more productive and find greater success each day.
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