Hack Parkinson's Law

Oi, oi, time for a quickie?

Do you spend so much time in meetings, being interrupted or picking up extra tasks, that you have little or no time to do your actual job?

Do you long for an empty calendar – or at least a few spaces in it –?so you can avoid having to work longer hours to fit everything in?

But what if I told you that having space in your calendar causes the problem in the first place?

Seriously!

Don't worry, there's a way to both make time for your job AND reduce the number of meetings and unwanted interruptions that find their way into your day.

But first, you need to understand why this is all happening...

Parkinson's Law

If you google 'Parkinson's Law' you find the following definition...

"Parkinson's Law is the idea that work expands to fill the time available."

If you think about it, your calendar WAS empty at some point in the past. But slowly and surely, it started to fill until it got to where it is today –?completely chocka!

Why did it fill up?

Because of Parkinson's Law –?and for two reasons:

• In the first instance, if you plan a hour to do a task, and it doesn't require an hour, you'll find yourself leaving the guts of the task to the last possible moment during that hour. As a result, you fill the rest of the hour (the first part) with other 'stuff' – like reading email, browsing the internet, going for another coffee or...whatever.
• Second, if you're like most people, you probably use your calendar to store your meetings with other people and little else –?leaving all other space (if there is any) blank. In this case, if you're interrupted or asked to yet another meeting (and by some miracle you have a space in your calendar) you'll likely give that space away because you have nothing else planned.

So there appears to be no way of avoiding the effects of Parkinson's Law –?or is there?

Hacking Parkinson's Law

The best way to avoid the apparent inevitability of Parkinson's Law is to change the way you use your calendar.

Don't just use it as a place to hold your meetings with other people.

Also use it for meetings with yourself –?to do your job. Plan all of the things that will achieve your objectives into your calendar.

Plan all of the things that will achieve your objectives into your calendar.

If you do this, you are removing the very space that Parkinson's Law feeds on.

But for this to work, you need to put the new meetings with yourself into your calendar as soon as possible –?because Parkinson's Law is at work right now with people looking for space in your calendar that they can steal.

"What if my calendar is full of meetings to do my job and there's no time left for ANY meetings with other people?"

Well first, this is a good thing because it tells you that you likely have too much on your plate –?before it's too late to do anything about it.

You can start a conversation with your manager about delegating or removing some of the load –?or some other solution.

And just because you've filled your calendar with your job, you always have the option to NOT do it.

It might be that one of the meetings or interruptions is more important than what you originally planned to do.

In that case, by all means, do what is most important, or urgent.

The important thing is that you will have made a conscious choice over what to do based on what else you should have been doing.

So there IS a way to hack Parkinson's Law

So you see, there is a way to go to meetings, deal with interruptions AND do your job. Remove the space from your calendar upon which Parkinson's Law thrives.

Set aside time in your calendar to do your job first and let all the meetings and other interruptions fight for a space.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and this so, feel free to jump into the comments.

See you next time.

Love,

Paul

Want to find out if your organisation is struggling with focus?

? Why not run a one-hour Diary Detox Discovery – a highly engaging, interactive experience that will give your people new insights about where they lose time (and why) and provide some simple techniques to get time back, straightaway.

?? Learn about a Diary Detox? Discovery on the website here (see the 'Organisations' section).

Got an off-site, town-hall, team away day or conference coming up and looking for a thought-provoking and motivational interlude to an otherwise packed agenda?

?? Why not ask me to deliver a keynote that will give your audience a new way of looking at their time and some simple tools that will help them claw some back.

?? Find out more at the paulholbrook.com.

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?? Learn about the Diary Detox? App on the website here.