Parkinson’s law is the notion that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
Parkinson’s Law: The more time you allow for a task, the less effort you’ll put in.
In Project Management, time management is all psychological. We naturally pace ourselves to finish a project in the allocated time. Sometimes, the same task can take one hour or one week depending on how much time we give ourselves to complete it.
If you give yourself an entire day to complete a two-hour task, in psychology the task will increase in complexity. We will, in fact, take the entire day to accomplish this relatively minor task. The extra time might not even be filled with more work to actually improve the quality of the output. Often, the extra time is just filled with more stress, tension and worrying about how to get it done.
Often, we fill a lot of the time procrastinating and wasting hours away.
You’re Already Used to the Parkinson’s Law
You had several days to prepare for an exam, but you only started studying 2 days before the actual exam.
You procrastinate for a long time and end up achieving the job on time.
In a soccer game, the team increases their play and go on full offensive mode in the last few minutes of a game: increased efforts, no time wasted.
Cut Your Deadlines and Increase Your Productivity
How about you try cutting your deadlines. Set your new deadline at 50% of the time it originally took you to complete your task. This might not seem realistic in the beginning, but you will be surprised at how you’re becoming way more productive. You will search for ways to get the job done within the limited time — and you will get it done well.
All you’ve cut down was procrastination, distractions, and stress! And achieve better results in less time!
Try it and let us know the outcome!