Defeat the Clock with Parkinson’s Law

Say goodbye to wasted hours and master your day like a pro!

Divyanshu Lakwad
ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR
3 min readOct 17, 2023

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Photo by Dylan Ferreira on Unsplash

Have you ever felt like you don’t have enough time to do all your tasks, and you occasionally leave them unfinished? Have you ever noticed how, even when there is plenty of time, tasks go unfinished? You’re not alone. Procrastination is a problem that affects 99% of individuals. One of the most crucial abilities of this century is Parkinson’s Law, which will help you master your time management. Time management will help you increase your productivity and break the cycle of procrastination.

What is Parkinson’s Law?

Cyril Northcote Parkinson, a British naval historian, established Parkinson’s Law. In 1955, he proposed the law in an essay published in The Economist.

According to Parkinson’s Law, “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”

In layman’s terms, this law states that a task will take the time assigned to it. If you give yourself an hour to finish a task, it will normally take an hour, however, if you give yourself a day to complete the same activity, it would take virtually the entire day.

According to Parkinson’s Law, time is a flexible term when it comes to work and chores. Adjusting and deciding on a time will normally take you the same amount of time to complete the task.

But how should Parkinson’s Law be applied? Let’s discover the secrets of transforming how you manage your time and accomplishing more in less time!

Step 1: Set your goals and prioritize them

Determine the assignment you must do. Maintain a clear view of the aim or task. Determine its worth and significance because this will help you prioritize the assignment among others. Make sure you have everything you need for the job.

Step 2: Set realistic deadlines

Setting a more realistic deadline will provide you with enough time to accomplish the assignment; also, completing a task within a given period promotes self-confidence to work. When you have a specific timeline in mind, you are more likely to stay focused and finish the assignment on time.

Setting unrealistic deadlines will just demotivate you since you will be unable to reach your goal, or if you give yourself more time than necessary, you will continue to procrastinate. Setting realistic and reasonable timelines is therefore crucial.

Step 3: Avoid Perfectionism

Evaluate and comprehend the required standards for completion and mark the assignment as submitted. Perfectionism frequently leads to unneeded time expansion. Understanding that jobs do not need to be flawless but merely need to fulfil the basic criteria might save time.

Step 4: Break Big Tasks into Smaller Chunks

Dividing larger jobs into smaller, manageable sections can assist in preserving attention, confidence and willingness to continue working while also preventing work from uncontrollably increasing the timeframe.

This will save you time and make completing the major goal feel effortless. Consider working for 6 hours straight to accomplish a task and then working in three two-hour segments to complete the same activity. Which one appears to be the easier task?

Step 5: Challenge Yourself

Nothing will change unless you want to.

All of the duties will remain unfulfilled, all of the goals will remain unattained, and nothing will alter on its own. You’ll have to push and challenge yourself throughout the day to complete all of the other tasks that must be completed.

Challenge yourself to finish each activity as quickly as possible without sacrificing quality. Practise till you achieve it, and then attempt to get faster. You’ll gradually notice that jobs that used to take roughly an hour to complete may now be completed in nearly half the time, and without sacrificing quality.

Trust yourself and cross everything off your to-do list!

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Divyanshu Lakwad
ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR

A law student turned writer, working on himself to improve everyday. I mostly write on self-growth, since I love to share everything that I learn.