Last week I had to complete a deliverable before Friday 12:00.
For the past weeks, I knew the deadline was approaching, so I had already prepared some parts of that deliverable. I also knew that perspectives from other experts would help me to upgrade my deliverable to the desired level. However, I felt like I had enough time to complete it, so there was no urgency at my end.
One week before the deadline, I started to feel the urgency.
I concluded that I should take more action on getting input from other perspectives. Within 8 hours, I was able to get 5 appointments with experts allowing me to meet the deadline.
This was a typical example of Parkinson’s Law. First stated in an article in 1955, by Cyril Northcote Parkinson, a famous British historian and author, and later elaborated upon in the book “Parkinson’s Law: the Pursuit of Progress”.
Parkinson’s law states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
Or in other words, if you have 1 week to complete activity X, you will use all of the time that is possible. If you only have 2 hours to complete that same activity X, you will complete it within the given 2 hours.
In my case, I knew that I needed to reach out to a few experts. I also knew that I had enough time for it. Once the deadline was approaching, I felt the urgency more and more and acted upon it.
So what is my take-away of this going forward?
By having an intermediate deadline (set by others) or by setting one myself, before the actual deadline, I can create more urgency within me. This works especially if I share this intermediate deadline with others, who hold me accountable. This will help me to complete the deliverable before the deadline and break Parkinson’s Law. Because of that, I feel more relaxed and less rushed, which helps me to be the best version of myself.
When was the last time you broke the Law (of Parkinson)?
Photo by Alan Rodriguez on Unsplash
Last week I had to complete a deliverable before Friday 12:00.
For the past weeks, I knew the deadline was approaching, so I had already prepared some parts of that deliverable. I also knew that perspectives from other experts would help me to upgrade my deliverable to the desired level. However, I felt like I had enough time to complete it, so there was no urgency at my end.
One week before the deadline, I started to feel the urgency.
I concluded that I should take more action on getting input from other perspectives. Within 8 hours, I was able to get 5 appointments with experts allowing me to meet the deadline.
This was a typical example of Parkinson’s Law. First stated in an article in 1955, by Cyril Northcote Parkinson, a famous British historian and author, and later elaborated upon in the book “Parkinson’s Law: the Pursuit of Progress”.
Parkinson’s law states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
Or in other words, if you have 1 week to complete activity X, you will use all of the time that is possible. If you only have 2 hours to complete that same activity X, you will complete it within the given 2 hours.
In my case, I knew that I needed to reach out to a few experts. I also knew that I had enough time for it. Once the deadline was approaching, I felt the urgency more and more and acted upon it.
So what is my take-away of this going forward?
By having an intermediate deadline (set by others) or by setting one myself, before the actual deadline, I can create more urgency within me. This works especially if I share this intermediate deadline with others, who hold me accountable. This will help me to complete the deliverable before the deadline and break Parkinson’s Law. Because of that, I feel more relaxed and less rushed, which helps me to be the best version of myself.
When was the last time you broke the Law (of Parkinson)?
Photo by Alan Rodriguez on Unsplash
