5-Minute Read
Time flies as we’re nearly a quarter of the way into the New Year. Perhaps you made a resolution to be more productive in some area of your life.
While I’m not a productivity expert, I enjoy learning from those who are. I don’t overly emphasize production itself. I’m more interested in the process and potential broader results. How do we improve the quality of our lives, maximize genuine leisure time, and explore other areas of self-improvement? How can we work deeply and efficiently while building plenty of time and space to enjoy life?
I don’t have all the answers. But in this piece, I try to pull on one of the threads.
The Inspiration
Dan Yerger is one of the most productive people I’ve met. He runs a successful financial planning business, teaches retirement planning, is working towards a PhD, writes a weekly blog, and has leadership positions on various boards. Oh, and he does all this by working 40 hours per week or less.
I’m fortunate to be in a regular study group with Dan. When we asked him last year about his productivity habits, he told us about Parkinson’s law and how reversing it is one of the secrets to his productivity.
Brief Refresher on Parkinson’s Law
Parkinson’s law is the adage that “work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”
This concept came from Cyril Northcote Parkinson back in 1955 based on his experience with the British Civil Service. It started with observations on how bureaucracies expand over time. But it applies as much to life and work today as it did back then.
Time is essentially a resource. If we have more of it, we tend to use it. If we have less of it, we do the best we can within the limits. But this goes beyond time. See if you agree with a couple corollaries of this law:
- Build storage capacity and the space gets filled – this applies to both data in the digital domain and physical stuff. Widening highways still somehow end up with traffic congestion.
- Expenditures increase to match income – a challenge for any household trying to reach financial independence or businesses trying to aggressively grow.
Parkinson’s Law may be one of the chief reasons why we live in a world with ever growing specialized and delegated labor, we don’t often see more leisure time as a result. Is there a way out?
Is Reversing Parkinson’s Law the Solution?
If we were to reverse the classic adage, it would look something like this. Work compresses to match the (smaller) time allotted.
A cool thing I learned from Dan Yerger is take a task or project and purposely give yourself much less time to complete it. If you think it’s going to take 4 hours, give yourself 1 hour. If you think it will take 2 hours, give yourself half an hour. This may sound extreme, but sometimes giving yourself the right kind of stressors is what generates better overall results.
In the business world, reversing Parkinson’s Law is not a new concept. It may just go by different names. Particularly during the pandemic, companies across the world have experimented with different versions of this. Perhaps you’ve seen it in the form of the following:
- Shorter Workdays
- Shorter Work Weeks
- Reduced Time for Meetings
On one hand, this makes intuitive sense. Do you tend to do better or more focused work if you limit time or a deadline is approaching? I find it often to be true. A lack of time forces you to work smarter and not harder. Plus, your energy and focus may vary during the day. How and when you manage your energy is a very practical matter.
However, leaders and managers need to be careful to not take this rule to an extreme. How much time stress is too much stress? Where is the line between productivity and burnout?
How Reversing Parkinson’s Law Has Worked for Me
I’m still experimenting with this relatively new philosophy of working. But I’m intrigued at its potential, particularly with “Quadrant 2” activities.
If you’ve ever read Stephen Covey’s 7 Habit’s of Effective People, you’ll recall his time management matrix. Any task or project ideally fits into one of these four quadrants below.
- Quadrant 1: Urgent and important.
- Quadrant 2: Not urgent but important.
- Quadrant 3: Urgent but not important.
- Quadrant 4: Not urgent and not important.
If something is in Quadrant 1, it’s likely to get your attention and focus. But often, the things that yield a longer-term benefit fall under Quadrant 2. They are important, but don’t have a near deadline. We often want to spend as much time and effort possible with Quadrant 2 activities.
Personally, I don’t find it hard to identify the Quadrant 2 activities. But it’s easy to procrastinate on those, perhaps because they haven’t become urgent yet (thus shifting into Quadrant 1).
If I can simply trick myself into spending a short amount of time (say 30 to 45 minutes), but in a very focused manner, on a meaningful activity, I’ve found one of three things happen.
- First, I might simply complete the activity which is awesome.
- Two, I might identify a specific roadblock where I need to call in help or delegate. That doesn’t solve the problem, but it moves the project forward and allows me to move on with a good conscience.
- Three, I don’t complete the activity, but I build some momentum. I then find it easier to come back to the activity soon with energy and anticipation.
Experiment (Carefully) with Reversing Parkinson’s Law
Reversing Parkinson’s Law may yield amazing benefits. But I also think it’s important to recognize when to apply this type of work mindset and when not to.
Sometimes in life the work itself is the reward. You get lost in the flow of doing something meaningful and challenging. The primary goal for those types of activities is probably not efficiency. Imagine telling a painter to create a masterpiece but they only have twenty minutes to do it!
An experimental approach with good judgement is needed. If you can find a way to work with intense focus (for short bursts of time) on the important stuff, you might just find an abundance of free time that was previously eluding you.
If you’re fortunate to have some control over your work schedule, but you’re still working 50 or more hours per week, experiment with purposely cutting back your hours. See what happens to your true productivity and energy levels.
I’ll leave you with this parting thought. Strive to work deeply in the time you have. Cal Newport’s Deep Work is an excellent guide to show why this is so important and how to do it.
If you have comments or questions on this piece, please drop me a line at: [email protected]
References
- https://www.mywealthplanners.com/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_law
- https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-7-Habits-of-Highly-Effective-People/Stephen-R-Covey/9781982137137
- https://calnewport.com/writing/
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