How to save hours of your day and never miss a deadline
one simple concept you can understand and implement now: the Parkinson’s law
If you’re someone who feels like you’re always in the constant cycle of procrastinating and then never getting the chance to work on the things you enjoy because there’s always thought of ‘something better I should be doing instead’, this concept will transform your life.
The Parkinson’s Law:
It states that ‘work expands to fill the time allocated to it’. Essentially, if you receive a task that’s due in two weeks, chances are, you won’t hand it in until exactly that date, give or take. You’ll feel like you’re working til the last minute and spent that entire two weeks dreading it before finally pressing ‘submit’. But, with an understanding of Parkinson’s law, you can work your way around that and be early for everything.
To put it simply, Parkinson’s law explains how we can manage to get the same amount of work done, even when we’re in a time crunch. Set a deadline for yourself that’s earlier than the real one - a personal deadline for you to have the task finished. Make it a priority to get it done by that date, which gives time for feedback, and decreases pressure when it comes to the final deadline. You can end up with way more free time to do the things you actually want to do, and important larger tasks would be out of the way.
In terms of being a student, I’m in a situation where I have homework tasks that need to be submitted weekly, and sometimes larger reports as well that need a round of feedback before submitting officially. With Parkinson’s law already implemented into my life for a while now, I was able to get most of my work done early, if not on time so that I could also get feedback and improve.
But there are also a couple of other important things to keep in mind:
It doesn’t only apply to work/school
Your tasks don’t have to be massive and overwhelming to fit into this concept
Say for example you’re getting ready to go out, but your room is a mess so you decide to tidy it up before leaving. In scenario 1, you don’t set a time limit and tell yourself to leave once you feel like ‘you’re done organizing’. In the second scenario, you set a 10-minute timer so you can get to your destination on time with a clean room left behind so you can make the most out of your day. Chances are, the same amount of cleaning will most likely have been done in scenarios 1 and 2. This is because cleaning in scenario 2 will target the same aspects, but more efficiently. It eliminates distractions and highlights priorities, so you can more or less get the same amount done but without wasting time.
In another situation, you may have something small to do that you’ve been putting off for a while, but the deadline is coming soon. It could be a short email you need to send or even finishing a chapter of a book. When you set a timer that is specifically designated to finishing that task, you have the ability to focus on it at a higher ability than without that boundary. Allocating 10 minutes to something can help you finish the majority of the work instead of spending time excessively working on it with distractions and procrastination.
the takeaway:
Take one extra step before approaching the things you need to get done, and set a timer with a realistic time goal for the completion of your task. Put in slightly more effort to get things done in a fraction of the time. You’ll have more of your day to do the things you actually care about, without worrying about the list of things waiting for you since they’ll already be done.
See you next week :)