Parkinson's law and the importance of setting strict deadlines

Table of Contents

The more efficient you get at ploughing through your tasks, the faster new tasks seem to arrive.

Work expands to fill the time available for its completion

as the British historian C Northcote Parkinson realised way back in 1955, when he coined what would come to be known as Parkinson’s law.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_law

Setting strict deadlines will offset Parkinson’s law. You will notice the following things:

  1. How less time it takes to study something compared to the time it takes to study it if you don’t have a deadline.
  2. Work contracts to fit in the time we give it.
  3. In ten hours a day, you have time to fall twice as far behind your commitments as in five hours a day.

Use Pomodoro if you have to.

Time pressure could give you a good focus boost (and potentially, productivity boost) - if you know how to manage it and handle it.

Example scenario:

  • If you set a date for a certification exam, you will study for it with that deadline in mind.
  • That self-imposed deadline can be very helpful and motivating
  • If that exam date is not set, you probably would spend way more time preparing for it.
  • It is a good idea to remember the importance of deadlines for all tasks and goals.

Tags

  1. Book - Four Thousand Weeks
  2. Book - The four hour workweek
  3. Strive For Progress, Not Perfection