How to Complete Your Goals When You Have TOO Much Time
For Those Paralyzed by the Abundance of Time On Your Hands
Cyril Northcote Parkinson
Name ring a bell?
No, likely not.
But the observation he made in 1955 explains how you were able to complete your 6th grade science fair display in one day after procrastinating for three months.
It also reveals why you’re not starting the projects you want to do right now, even though you have more time than ever.
His observation is now known as…
Parkinson’s Law
It state’s that:
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
In other words, whether you give yourself a day or a week to complete a task, you’ll take the full allotted time.
So how can we use Parkinson’s Law to our advantage when we have all the time in the world?
Here’s what I do when I’m feeling overwhelmed by the amount of time I have to fill.
1) Create False Deadlines
Whether you give yourself an hour, a day or a week to get something done, just write the due date on a calendar.
If you suffer guilt and overwhelm because you still don’t know if you’re going to actually do the work, then consider the simple act of writing your false deadline your “win”.
Put your pen down and go do something else for the time being. Or do nothing.
Just having the date in your calendar will keep your time constraint top of mind, which is important.
2) Create Time Bubbles
You can give yourself false deadlines every day by creating time bubbles (a term I just made up…maybe) which you can fill with whatever you want. If your goal or task is important to you, fill it with that.
Your time bubble can also be any size you want. It can be ten minutes or two hours — whatever makes you feel comfortable, productive and free from guilt.
If the task you must complete is difficult or if you know you’ll kick yourself if you don’t complete it, then it’s best to do it first thing in the day so you can feel accomplished the rest of the time.
But you can move your time bubble around in the day if you have to.
You can also create multiple time bubbles that you fill with things besides your goal.
NOTE: be sure to have at least one time bubble when you relax and do whatever makes you happy.
Here are a couple daily time bubbles from some very prolific people.
Ben Franklin’s Daily Schedule
Casey Neistat’s Daily Schedule
If you’ve not heard of Casey, watch his video at the end of this post.
Again, if you still feel overwhelmed then 1) write down your False Deadline, 2) write down your Time Bubble, put down your pen and call those your wins.
3) Create Your 3 Wins
Filling every day end-to-end with tasks is not sustainable, unless you’re Elon Musk or some other freak of nature.
And most people who do fill their day are not being productive, they’re just being busy.
Furthermore, you could have worked non-stop or you could have been lazy all day and still end the day feeling like you accomplished nothing.
So if you want to feel like you won the day and actually move forward consistently on your goal, then take Dan Sullivan’s advice and create your 3 Wins.
When you’ve completed them, you’ve won the day. Whatever you do after that is the cherry on top.
Let’s Review
Remembering Parkinson’s Law, this is how you can start getting to work on your goals.
- Create a False Deadline by which you’ll complete your goal
- Create a daily Time Bubble to dedicate to your goal
- Fill your Time Bubble with your 3 Wins
BONUS: If you want some inspiration and you’ve not done so already, watch Casey’s video.
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Other quarantine-related articles:
What to Do When You Can’t Think of What to Do
When You Can’t Do Anything, Do Nothing
This article is Day 6 of the 30-Day Fishbowl Series
You can start the series by clicking HERE.
