Parkinson's Law - Manage Your Time More Effectively 

Another way to explain: Work from a calendar, not a to-do list

I used to be a terrible procrastinator. Now I have found a strategy - maybe it will help somebody. When I get a task I work on it way before I actually should. Because my brain doesn't want to do stuff when it HAS TO, I actually do it before I have to and so the task is done and I have some time off :)

I interpret Parkinson's Law a little differently. While you present the law as being related to prioritization and procrastination, I believe C. Northcote Parkinson was referring to the efficiency with which tasks are processed. For example, let's say I'm given 8 hours to write a critique of a psychology paper, but I know that I can do it in 3 hours. Because I know I have more time than I need, I will be inefficient with my time. I will start writing without a fully formed plan. I will rat-hole on linked-to research papers. I will be overly meticulous about my verbiage. And so on. However, if I'm given only 3 hours to complete the same task, I will now become much more focused and efficient with my time. I'll probably even schedule my time - such as 45 minutes to read, 15 minutes to think, 15 minutes to outline, 75 minutes to write, and 30 minutes for copy-edit and APA citations. In short, Parkinson's Law could be stated as "The amount of time available to complete a task is inversely proportional to the efficiency in carrying out that task." It's much like everything in life. The more time you have, the less efficient you are with that time. The less time you have, the more efficient you are with that time. I could be mistaken, but this is how I understand it.

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." - Douglas Adams

If you don't have fire that's getting bigger, make sure you create one. Amazing words.

I can procrasinate all week long to do housework. Literally do ANYTHING but boring household responsibilities.......UNTIL I hear a knock on the door. THEN that fire is so lit under my butt I'm in super-hyper focused cleaning mode. Or I get that "We'll come over in an hour" phone call from friends. I get more done in that hour than I would have done all week. 🙌✊

In medical school, I handed in my assessments 1-2 months before they were due. I couldn't accept being the type of person who is cramming a project days before it is due. Still apply the rule and I get to work on a lot of other projects of my own choosing

Motivation is so highly nuanced. Procrastination seems more like the effect of dread of doing a task, or the fear of failure, or uncertainty. The more tangible the reward appears to be, people seem to be more motivated. A task that should bring you joy and fulfillment feels like a nuisance, because you just can’t appreciate the long term victory yet. Going to the gym is a good example. Your internal dialogue might be telling you it’s not worth the effort, but that first day you are seeing results then you start to get momentum. It’s hard to work towards a goal without the assurance that your effort will give results. Trust in yourself. Trust in the process. It’s the hardest part of achieving discipline.

This is why we start our study only when the exam date is announced.

A good rule to inculcate is the 50% rule. This rule works to set your internal dead line at half the specified deadline period. Example, if you are given a weeks notice to prepare a report, set your internal deadline to have it ready by the 3rd or the 4th day. An intuitive basis is that any work can be likened to a work of art; involves 4 stages: preparing for the work, doing the work ( the first cut), editing or correcting or rectifying mistakes and finishing or making it presentable. It can be noticed that removing errors and finishing takes a lot of time. The 50% rule enables you to devote time for the final output. I have tried it and found it working or me well.

A solid grade B+. I just gave an Asian parent contemptuous look.

I generally agree, but you're missing something: break up big tasks into small manageable ones, and set many short-term milestones. So instead of "30 days to write a paper" it's "2 days for an outline, 3 days for a first draft, 3 days for an edited draft, etc..." This is a key strategy for "Agile teams" and can also help you estimate the time to complete a large project. Good luck!

Yeah... Right now I'm watching this video(and other similar vodeos) instead of doing history homework for tomorrow and it's 11pm. How ironic 😂😅

I try to finish my tasks, especially the most important ones, as soon as possible. Not because I want to be productive, but because I am so afraid of failure or not being able to finish on time. This kind of overthinking of mine in a way became helpful LOL

How to put pressure on yourself to complete tasks in a way that creates focus? I've found that If i'm assigned a particular goal tasked by someone else, I am more likely to complete it, but when it comes to personal goals, I tend to get complacent with my time.

I bought a rundown nightclub which needed a ton of work, I had no money left and was overcome with the enormity of what lay before me, so my daughter broke it down in to sections on a list, she said do this part first which took about a week, it looked good, I felt great and couldn't wait to get started on the next job on the list, the whole project took a year. Before her advice all I saw was an impossible task.

When I had 2 jobs...working 60 hours a week, I seemed to get more done outside of work. When I went to one job, 40 hours/week...I seemed to get less done.

Key take aways 1:24 Parkinson's law "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion" 3:08 Set deadlines Avoid procrastination Prioritize - cut the unimportant details 4:40 Shorter deadlines = better results cutting distraction = greater focus 5:03 set a reasonable time frame start working around it and you shall discover short cuts along the way.

I've just discovered a system to get things done. It might help you too. I watch a movie or show while working (playing a video game that you can pause anytime also works). I watch for 10 minutes and then do the work for 10 minutes. After a few rounds sometimes you may be motivated and increase the work time to 15-19 minutes (it's not essential to increase the work time, do it if you feel like it)... By the end of the movie you would have done a decent amount of work. It's crazy that this method really improves my productivity. I wish I had figured this out a long time ago. It really helps with that weird fear/anxiety of starting big tasks

Time is a constant. You can’t manage it. You manage tasks.

I am a horrible procrastinator but I have gotten better over the years, I use to always wait until the last day to get things done, now I find it easier to work. One day at work while I was between assignments, I found this book that talked about productivity and compared the task to eating frogs. It said "When you have to eat frogs eat the biggest one first." This message has stuck with me for years and helped me with so many tasks I don't feel like doing. If you get the hardest thing done first the rest is smooth sailing and your brain won't fight the work as much. If you have to do a huge project break is down into smaller ones and tackle the hardest one that you can do before the others. A huge reason why we procrastinate is because out brain doesn't want to struggle, or battle with things we don't like to do. Once you get it in your head to say, "ok this needs to get done I don't want to fall behind," you get a fire under your ass from talking yourself up. It only take a few hours for that fire to burn out though. That is the time to really go after the hard stuff, then by the time that fire gets low and you don't want to do anything you have easy tasks that you can just knock out quickly. another thing that helps is setting tighter deadlines. Making your dead line 2 or 3 days before the final will help you finish it and give you time to double check for errors before it's too late.

This is why I need to quit my job! I have a business I'm developing but because I go to work 'comfortable' without a deadline, my situation does not change.

these videos are painfully underrated....i'm sad

Telling a procrastinator to set a shorter deadline "for YOURSELF" (ha ha, indicating that the solution is rooted in SELF-control, the very thing we lack) is like telling a child to be happier by "choosing" to eat the raw broccoli before pop-tarts. Right. We need an EXTERNAL AUTHORITY to set our limits. All procrastinators were wired by parents and older siblings who made decisions/choices for us. We never got to develop self-control or "freedom of choice" as we grew up. Solution is to start verrry small and treat your precious spirit like it's a child learning self-control for the first time in your life...and work your way up to bigger tasks that require bigger self-control. Be kind to the child inside you who was never given the chance to practice "choices" and self-discipline. Also, as God for help...and watch for the self-control practice exercises He sends.

It's funny, but at high school, and again at University (years later in my 30's) if I handed in an assignment early, the teacher would return it with hints on how to make it better, and I was both angry and inspired to try again. Then I tried not handing in work early,but still doing the assignment and putting it aside, but I would leave out a detail or two and then forget to finish it. So, if you try this method, do the whole task, and put small note on it to remind you of any details needing finishing, and the date to hand it in. Keep the finished tasks in a spot (in your room or on computer) where you can see it daily. Then, use the growing pile of finished work to congratulate yourself on accomplishing the tasks.

What I learned : Every minute, second counts. You cannot bring time back. Plan. Do your tasks early. Learn time management. Deadline aren't infinite Use time you have. Make it better than "just" Thank you for this video!!

This video motivated me without scolding at me

what a wonderful law ,, every time i saw a your videos i think about what the next one is going to talk about ,,, your topics are really powerful

You're truly a master teacher, thank you for this!!

I get things done by working with productivity software that provides for recurring tasks. Most of us spend the greater amount of our tiime with repeating jobs. A good productivity app will let you do either a single time task or a repeating one (with many options for when it repeats. If you have a larger project you can earmark time for each day between assignment and deadline. People need to take mental energy into account; if you try to study or write all at once for instance, you will not be able to do very well after the first hour or so; the brain gets tired like a muscle.

I have experienced what is described back when I was in school. But as an adult, I never respect dead lines I assign myself. Do you have any tips/tricks for taking those as seriously as the ones that actually are important in life? ( important = maybe lose job. Unimportant = didn't get personal goal done)

Remember, there must be deadline, for you to achieve your goal !💯✌

This channel is a gold mine! Thank you youtube algorithm!

This got to be one of the best youtube channel

Set achievable deadlines for your goals. 🔥😁

I've always wondered why this was true. The pressure and urgency or "fire" is motivating. Thank you. 👍#ParkinsonsLaw

OMG this video could not have been more applicable/accurate!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!

This was exactly what I needed. So far I love your videos, really helping me stay on track with my RU-vid and life goals! Thank you!

Thank you so much for the video : makes so much sense and a good wake up call

I don't care about deadlines because if I have something that must be done within X days I do it as soon as possible because God knows what is going to happen next. What if I get in an accident and the task won't get done at all? This kind of habit makes me have a lot of free time, actually because if I feel like resting or doing anything really I can just do it because what I had to do is already done and if something important pops up it can wait, because there is no other important tasks stacked to be done, because they are already done. The only thing I procastinate is cleaning my room and doing the dishes, that kind of things. Because it's an neverending thing. I do it once and in a few days I have to do it again so what's the point?

I love your videos! Thank you for creating them!

This is gold. Thank you sir!

"If you do not have a fire thats getting bigger, make sure you create one."

Love this channel. I'm going to study a unit for next semester before the start of December.

I'm nearing 187...ish, and I still can't get organized. I endlessly put important things to do in a prominent place, paying bills etc. and always, ALWAYS, the location becomes a place to avoid. When a deadline's approaching I'll dive into the pile to find the paperwork and inevitably it has gone missing. I am dyslexic, a word I hate as I, in the company of top novelists, without being one, am a writer. Dyslexia I think only shows up in reading and writing in kids who can't hide it. Like Asperger's, our brains are just wired differently, despite the name limiting us to word problems. I think we all have a problem with organising our stuff, time, priorities. I just can't follow deadline's and lists. I was always the kid who never did homework, and if we were supposed to have written a story and I hadn't, I missed playtime to write my story. That was fine by me in the cold winter, inventing a story instead of mindlessly running around to keep warm. After playtime I would get told off as I wasn't supposed to copy stories from a book. When it was obvious I hadn't, my story was read to the class at storytime before we went home. Result! I was sent to psychologists to find why I seemed both super clever and super stupid. They, and I, settled on stupid. These tricks to improve efficiency just don't work on me. Asperger's is all the rage right now (I still think there's a link with MMR vaccine - I wasn't vaccinated this way), but dyslexia is not. Both conditions make people cleverer, as we have to translate 'normal' concepts into our language to understand, then learn to communicate back. With Asperger's it's difficulty in recognising non-verbal interaction, with dyslexia it's understanding rules, organization, directions and priorities, often we only cope by reading non-verbal cues. Example in point.. I have no idea why I'm writing this other than I've been fantasising about eating a Mars bar all day and just bought and ate one. One? Nah, am going to eat another one - I bought 3. Seems the more I eat, the skinnier I get right now. I thought it'd be a dream come true. Reality is the novelty soon wears off and am in the age group where being thin just is concerning. But I still prefer it to being fat. Okay I'll shut up.

5:26 I would like to know about the shortcuts that you have found in the course of your self-improvement journey

Best explanation I have come across. Valuable advice too. Thank you.

After watching your videos I'm always getting better than yesterday.Thank you man for your useful work.💪✌

I only procrastinate things that seem really hard. I felt like college classes were esoteric and hard to comprehend. I just wasn't a scholar. But if I am confident I can do something without frustration, I don't mind starting right away, even if the deadline is distant. This idea about a task filling up the time before the deadline is weird because the task isn't going to change based on when you start it, unless conditions change. Sometimes that's why a task is harder at the deadline. If you wait a month before mowing the lawn again, the grass is way taller than a week since the last cut. This is a massive difference. When the grass is this high, usually a standard mower won't work. There will be weeds also, and certain types start to have a thicker shaft. So it's a whole different job. Now because of the overgrowth, you will have to go in with a weed eater and chop out the big stuff, and remove it by hand, you won't be able to just start mowing. One week's worth of grass growth used to be about a two hour mow at my parent's when I was young. It could easily turn into more than 8 hours of work after a month's neglect, if it happened in the fast growing Kentucky spring or summer. And if a rain fall happened during that month, you can almost double that 8 hour job. A rain fall always happened in a Kentucky summer once a month or more. In July, it was better to cut every 5 days, not just once a week because of the fast growth.

This video is THE BEST .

Thanks, this video really motivated me. 🙂

I got this method right away when I listened about the Deadline as Fire 🔥

Great video thanks for the information it will really help

One of my favourite channels, keep making impacts, we love you😊

Wow- I feel better now knowing it's not just me who does this!!

Yes, very true! Specially in this lockdown period , this is so relatable.

5:48 No, thank you for taking the time and talent to share this knowledge 🙏🏿

If people start understanding this law, there might be fewer burnouts...

Love your videos, high class job! Thank you.

You pointed on most people's weaknesses. thanks!

Wow......I'm putting this into play.....now

Your mini habit method worked really well for me.i am also going to give this a try.thank you so much for making such viedios. keep it up sir

great explanation bro !!!

Unchunked mission/goal will prevent procrastination. Bite size action steps is the way to go.

Thanks . Its been very helpful indeed

youre amazing brother!!!! thank you!!

Just amazing! Thank you! ❤️🇵🇬

I loooooove this channel!!!

How did RU-vid know that i'm procrastinating? And now they gave me this, i feel guilty

thank you, it is so helpful for me

Your examples are awesome, the thoughts get stuck in the brain 💯👍

This video us what I needed today

Time and task management is always something I struggle with, for this exact reason! I give myself too much time or no deadline to complete tasks and I subconsciously wait until the last minute to start because I need the pressure to stop me being distracted, it's so stressful.

Love this channel! ❤

really powerful

Yes true, I got 2 month time to do certification of Google cloud. I studied nothing for 1.20 month and in ten days due to pressure. I studied with full focus and clear it.

I love this concept. I am such a procrastinator and I’m finally read you change that.

Thanks. This is so helpful.

inspiring!

This is actually a great motivational video.

Thank you very much for this helpful tip❤️🔥🔥🔥

GREAT!!!! Thanks a lot

Great law 👍🏾

I love your videos! On a practical level they have probably taught me more than my psychology degree ;)

For me, procrastination is a cycle perpetuated by a deep fear of failure that won’t go away no matter how many degrees I achieve or exams I pass. It stems from a feeling of inadequacy...i.e.I can’t start right now because I don’t have all the information/haven’t studied enough etc. Then I start when I absolutely HAVE TO and I do alright. Aaaand the cycle repeats.

thanks a lot mann i needed this for my orals(speech)

we have to have the sense of urgency, as Dr. Andrew Huberman explains. Great video!

Yes, this video is very helpful. Thanks! 😁

Thank you so much!

Amazing love it!

Life changer Parkinson's law 🙏

Bravo.l love the deadline illustration

Thank you!

Great video this helped out a lot

Thank you !!!

Honestly, I love this channel, it saved my life, to my health to my academics. Good thing I found this channel on time because if I didn't I would probably be living such a shitty life.

Thank you brother.nice video , very useful .

This is an impeccable piece. A book I read that was equally flawless was a pivotal moment for me. "Dominating Your Clock: Strategies for Professional and Personal Success" by Anthony Rivers

Thank you for this. You just described my life.

ill apply this video tomorrow