Parkinson’s Law: The Secret to Managing your Time Effectively in 2021.

Procrastination is the mother of time-wasting. I have been a victim of this for over seven years.?

I struggled with the timely delivery of projects all through my school days because I always felt; “I can always finish this in a few hours/days.”?

Back then, in Design School all our design projects were time-bound. We had as much as three months in some cases to work on projects that I am sure would have been completed in a few days/weeks.

Furthermore, my lack of understanding of the fact that work expands relative to the time allocated to it led me to many failed deadlines and “crashed” design projects.?

I scored high on these projects to the detriment of my overall performance in the end.

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Eventually, I snapped out of it. I stumbled on a remarkable video on Parkinson’s Law in 2020 by world-renowned videographer —?Nas Daily?on Facebook.?

Ever since my discovery, my productivity has increased tremendously.?

I will be sharing some of the practical things I learned from that video here. Please grab yourself a cup of the finest cappuccino, lean back, and let us take a swirling ride.

What is Parkinson’s Law?

It was first articulated by?Cyril Northcote Parkinson?way back in?The Economist?in 1955.

It simply states that:

“Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”

Essentially, the more time you allocate to complete a task more likely means the longer time you will take to finish it. Besides, the less time you allocate to complete a task most likely means the lesser time you will take to finish it. Ironically, when you allocate no time of completion to your goals, there is a high tendency you may never accomplish them.

How to manage your time more effectively

1. Start Immediately

The more time you allocate for a task does not necessarily mean it will be completed perfectly. Most of the time we spend a large chunk of that time procrastinating or as some people put it “Preparing” to accomplish the task.

The solution to this is to start immediately. Commence work on your design projects the very moment you get the brief.

2. Set Shorter Deadlines

The major challenge with a “crashing mentality” is that it seeps into every area of your life unconsciously. Down to simple tasks like eating or doing laundry. Most times the reason why you seem stuck on one project for ages is not laziness or even procrastination, but because you allocated excess time to complete it. When something is not urgent, we spend more time doing it.

If I give you 30 days to complete a Logo design project, you will most likely take 29 days before you commence work on it because you know you can finish the project in a few hours.?

That is 29 days of procrastination on a project that would have taken you just a few hours to complete on Day 1.

Hence, allocate shorter deadlines to your task especially those you know you can complete fast. More time spent on a task does not necessarily mean you get a better result.

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3. Be Reasonable

Be reasonable. Some projects may require more time while others may not. In some cases, you might need to try out a few options before arriving at your final submission.?

However, that does not mean you should spend eons carrying out tasks. Be reasonable to yourself and allocate just enough time to finish your projects. Remember work expands to the time you allocate for it, hence the lesser the time the better.

To Sum it Up

Some people may argue that the reason why people take more time to carry out a task is because of their level of competence and personal strength. This is true.?

Then I took a holistic approach towards this matter. Whether you are a master at what you do or just a beginner, if you do not work within the premise of Parkinson’s Law you will more often than not have streaks on unfinished or “crashed” projects.