Overcoming Parkinson’s Law
Stop your procrastination dead in its tracks
Is it just me or do you have this same problem too?
I have found that the more something means to me and the more I have at stake, the more time I take to do it. I keep looking for the perfect way to do it just so it turns out fine.
Before I started dating, I thought and thought about the best way to ask my lady love out until she got tired and asked me herself.
Or maybe I was just weighing my options…?
I don’t know. This may not be the perfect example.
And if you are wondering, of course, I said yes.
According to Parkinson’s Law, “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”
This means that if you give yourself two days to clean out the garage, the task would take you two days. Similarly, if you decided you had nothing more than one hour to spend on cleaning, you would finish with minutes to spare.
An interesting observation shows there is no noticeable difference in the quality of your results whether you do the same task in a short time span or over an extended period.
If anything, your output quality tends to be lower for tasks that drag on forever.
How do you beat this interesting phenomenon?
5 Ways To Overcome Parkinson’s Law
1. Clearly outline your end goal.
A line from the book, As A Man Thinketh by James Allen, goes, “Aimlessness is a vice, and such drifting must not continue for him who would steer clear of catastrophe and destruction.”
It has been such a profound statement for me over the years because passivity in thoughts and purpose almost always led to unwholesome results.
You need to define where you want to be or Parkinson’s Law is going to come after you as surely as thunder comes after lightning.
2. Define the steps you need to take.
Nothing removes anxiety about a project as effectively as breaking it down into bite-sized chunks that you can take one bit at a time.
“Run on the treadmill for five minutes thrice a week” is not quite as daunting as “Run the interstate long-distance championship race.” But doing the first consistently would eventually lead you to the bigger goal.
3. Make a not-to-do list.
These are the top thieves of your valuable time. They are a list of the non-essentials and non-important tasks that would continue to take bits and pieces from your time until you have nothing left.
Write them out every day and avoid them like the plague. You know yourself better than anyone else. What are the common distractions you have? List them and make sure you avoid them.
4. Set a timeline.
Nothing motivates people to work more than a looming deadline.
You’ll be shocked at the output you can produce when you know you have run out of time. You will create solutions practically out of thin air.
Put constructive pressure on yourself by setting a timeline and sticking to it
5. Apply outside accountability.
The logic behind this is simple. Tell people you’re going to do something, and they would hold you accountable for it.
Put it on your wall: I’m going to bungee jump from 500 ft before Christmas. Tell your friends. Tell family. You will put yourself under good pressure to get it done because you have people waiting for you to keep your word.
Conclusion
It’s funny because we get it ass-backward by spending too much time thinking about our goals and worrying whether things would turn out fine.
It should be the exact opposite!
If it’s important to you, you should be actively working on it and trying out new ideas, talking to people, and generally doing something about your desired goals.
Fail forward and stay productive. Cheers!
P. S. Need to reach out? Send me an email at praiz.united@gmail.com
