Setting Unrealistic Deadlines

In the world of productivity, there is a principle commonly called Parkinson’s Law — first mentioned by British naval historian and author, C. Northcote Parkinson, in a 1955 article in The Economist. The “law” states that:

“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” — tweet this

The general idea behind this being that if we SAY that a project or task is probably going to take three months to complete, we’ll likely take that long to complete it. Or if we’re being honest with ourselves here, we very well may procrastinate for most of that time, and then crank out all of the necessary work in the last day or two before its absolute final deadline. Sound familiar? Have you ever NOT studied for the two weeks provided before that exam — even though you “knew” that you “needed” to — and then cram last-minute and still pass with flying colors?

Was it that you were lucky to have pulled that off with such little time put in on studying? Or was it perhaps that the limited time you suddenly had in order to finish it all placed you into an extremely focused state, in which you gave far more concerted mental energy to the task than you might have without the pressure of getting it done PRONTO?

By the same token, Parkinson’s Law insinuates that if we decide for ourselves that a project or task can be completed in a far shorter length of time, we likely are truly capable of completing it in that timeframe. Why? Because we create an unrealistic deadline, essentially forcing ourselves into that über-concentrated state of intentional laser-focus and right action.

I proved this to myself quite a while back, when producing my world percussion play-along CD, Ritimista. After wanting to create such a resource for several years and FINALLY deciding this was a project I wanted to go ahead and dive into, I sat down and wrote a list of many of the steps required.

• figure out how many rhythms should be included and length of tracks
• choose what rhythms to include
• find a recording studio
• practice the percussion parts
• find someone to do artwork for the CD and card insert
• where can I get the CDs and inserts duplicated?
• etc., etc., etc.

Viewing the list, I did some purely arbitrary calculations in my head. Take a week or so to consider the rhythms to use . . . research studios for another week or two . . . discuss the artwork and layout with a designer friend . . . weigh options on duplication facilities . . . and on and on. I ultimately decided that, if I jumped on this, I could probably get the entire thing wrapped up in about three months. Eeesh, but there are so many factors, there’s always the chance it could take much of the next year to completely work through and produce.

Seemed reasonable.

Fast forward: not three months, not a year, but THREE YEARS.

There I sat, still without the percussion play-along CD that I’d been wanting for ages. Had I forgotten about it? Oh, heck no. It had still been something I’d intended to make happen but it seemed like So.Much.Work. What a long commitment of time and energy a project like that required. With so many other more immediate (and persistent) demands coming at me weekly, this one just kept getting continually pushed off until that mysterious future moment when I’d magically “have the time” to get to it.

Right around then is when I first heard about the concept of Parkinson’s Law (quite likely via one of Tim Ferriss’ books or talks). The suggestion made from Ferriss and other productivity “gurus” was to give yourself an unusually short span of time to complete a particular project. Self-imposing this unrealistic deadline (obviously more practical with some tasks than others) was a method of putting the pressure on yourself that’s sometimes felt in those instances of the down-to-the-wire, last-minute crunchtime. Chances are good that you’ll be able to pull it off in the time you’re allowing yourself, and that you’ll do it well, thanks to the priority and undivided attention that you’ll be forced to give it.

Other variations/adaptations of this that I’ve seen pop up include:

• If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do.
• Work expands (or contracts) to fit in the time we give it.

And a few we’ve each undoubtedly observed in our own lives:

• Data expands to fill the space available for storage.
• A wardrobe will expand to fill all available closet space.
• The more money you earn, the more money you spend.

Upon my introduction to this principle, a million different opportunities to test [and potentially successfully apply] it virtually slapped me across the face. First up: that play-along CD! I’d wanted to crank this one out for far too long.

I immediately rewrote a list of the tasks and decisions required but, this time, also made a concrete decision that the details would be figured out, and studio time booked . . . within 72 hours! What? I’d originally thought this would take weeks. Months.

72 hours?! Tim Ferriss would say that was unrealistic. Game on!

I quickly did the math and the bulk of the brainstorming: a 60+ minute play-along CD seemed about right . . . 3 minutes per track would be good . . . that means 20 rhythm tracks or so . . . should actually do both slow and fast tracks of each rhythm, so a total of 10 or 11 rhythms . . . what should I include? . . . hmm, a couple African rhythms . . . a couple Latin rhythms . . . bell, clave, rattle . . . jot down the instrumentation used in each one . . . BAM, done!

A couple of super brief phone calls later, I’d lined up studio time with a recording engineer friend, gotten another friend to agree to do the artwork and layout, AND confirmed with yet another that he could manufacture the CD, print the inserts, assemble them AND do shrinkwrapping, at his local duplication studio. BAM, done!

Checked the time on my watch and couldn’t believe it. Forget 72 hours — I had just done in 20 MINUTES what I’d previously convinced myself would take far, far longer. Weeks. Even months.

How does the story end? About a week after that short work session, I was in the studio recording the percussion tracks. About another two weeks later, I received delivery of my first small batch of 50 CDs. Finally, a relevant product that I could sell on my website and at percussion workshops I taught. A product that, in all reality, I could have had available for sale (and thus, making me money) at least three years earlier.

Ridiculous.

Where and when else can this apply?

I’ve written this post to share about the value of Parkinson’s Law not because I’ve become an expert in applying it to all of my life’s chores, projects and goals. Quite the contrary. I continually forget how useful it’s been in the above example, as well as others since. First and foremost, I’ve written it because yours truly needs the constant reminder to set himself some unrealistic deadlines and simply GET THE WORK DONE!

But I do also hope that you are able to find some areas that this principle might come in handy in YOUR work and life.

Please share in a comment below where you think you might try applying this. And if you already have at some point, tell us about your own successes with it!

Mark Powers is a drummer, educator, author and TEDx speaker/performer.
Visit and contact him at PowersPercussion.com and on Twitter at @MarkPowers