Don't Let Parkinson's Law Drag Your Time And Best Cognitive Energy

Choose 'done is better than perfect' to make the most of your life

Photo by Erik Odiin on Unsplash

Your brain is a penny-pinching electricity meter manager - it really doesn't want to spend.

When life gets busy, it's easy to choose Netflix and binge - but did you give yourself no other choice? That's the problem.

This week has been hectic. Really hectic. 2024 has already been hectic.

I ended 2023 skirting the edges of burnout and pulled myself back from the brink with a much needed break and focusing on healthier habits.

Yet one social weekend sets my weekly tasks off by days, leaving me in constant catch-up mode.

Most of us seem to be in this treadmill zone.

I almost didn't write this article. It's my day job boss’ last week at work, things are changing fast, and I'll really miss him.

He's a great human and I have cherished his kindness and mentoring in a tough role.

I'm happy for him but sad for me. It's a weird conflict.

My bigger conflict comes from the desire to build a writing habit, a coaching business and finish studies whilst doing hobbies and socialising.

When though!?

I know it won't last forever but I'm tired tonight.

I've been on a weekly publishing streak for over 3 months and I don't want to break that run. My core value of achievement still rules the roost!

So here we are. It feels hard. You get me.

Parkinson’s Law is ever present

I flitted from topic to topic and couldn't settle on one that fit my energy and mood.

Then it happened.

Whilst reading a blog article from Ness Labs, this sentence jumped out:

Parkinson’s law, the adage that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”.

Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Ness Labs

I realised how often my life succumbs to Parkinson’s Law. If I don't have a clear deadline or external accountability, I'll happily bumble along and will eventually get the task done.

However the hours disappear.

Some of this relates to not wanting to rush and to do the job well. The rest relates to indulging in not wanting to rush in general.

The myth of how productive we realistically are is front of mind. We often think we're more effective than we have been.

It's only when you audit your time, outputs, and the value derived that you realise how rubbish you've been.

If you hired yourself for certain tasks, you'd be disappointed by the service for sure.

Give yourself time limits

In the spirit of not letting Parkinson’s Law scupper my publishing streak, plus my desire for not writing until 1am and suffering from insomnia for days, I've given myself 60m to write, review and publish this.

Let's see how this goes.

You're on this journey with me, so let me know in the comments if this is evidence for giving yourself more time and space instead!

A common time productivity method is the Pomodoro Method.

Named after the jaunty tomato shaped timers, you set a timer for 20m and work until the alarm rings.

You can take a 5m break and repeat these cycles until you're done. It's great for getting into tasks quickly by using false deadlines and the urgency effect to get things done.

The downside is that it might be sub-optimal for deep work flow states over longer time periods.

We have around 3-4 hours of good cognitive energy every day - if you're rested and looking after your body well.

It occurs in different phases of the day depending on your body clock (chronotype). On average, this higher energy zone is earlier in the day, not long after waking.

If you're aiming for quality and effective use of time, aligning your deep work and detailed activities during this period is ideal.

If you can't do this though, finding a shorter time bound pattern that supports your energy levels is still valuable.

Giving yourself rules related to time allowed and quality expectations gives your penny-pinching brain a better budget idea about how to use its energy and focus efficiently.

Instead of expecting marathon-like stamina, you teach your brain to know it has x time to get y done, at z quality standard.

The mantra ‘done is better than perfect’ exemplifies this expectation. Getting specific about the inputs and outputs is important for this to work.

Add certainty where you can and your scroogy brain spends less time on all the possible predictions it needs to meet your vague goals.

Yikes I have 10m left. Let's get to the conclusion.

Get specific and get it done

Heading into the finishing strait here.

I'm in a lovely flow state writing this article, and it's given me an energy boost.

I'm almost sad it's coming to an end.

However, my bed is calling and I'm looking forward to a satisfying sleep, cats permitting.

Who knew?

Use these steps so you don't succumb to Parkinson’s Law:

1. Get specific about what you want to achieve. What is the output?

2. Decide the realistic quality standard you can accept with the output required. If you're a perfectionist, go for 80% of your initial standard. You want to get this done and move on.

3. Decide on the input time you can commit to. Remove distractions and stick to it.

4. Limit checking and review time to once or twice if it's a shorter time period. The quality gain doesn't always correlate with the checking time you allocate. Agree what is acceptable in the time allowed.

5. Go go go! Sit somewhere with no distractions, set your timer and get it done by your input time deadline.

6. Set it free in the world.

7. Pick your next challenge and repeat!

By not letting the overwhelm and vague inputs and outputs distract, you'll be more productive than you realise.

Experiment and get curious with the variables. You'll get more rest and more done in the end.

P.S. I crept slightly over my time limit but it was fun and it's published. Result! 🚀

---

Let me know what you're keen to learn or talk about in the comments or on chat.

This is your space too, so let's enjoy it together.