Mind Food | Time

Please sir, can I have some more?

As the year draws to a close I often hear the phase ‘I can’t believe it’s that time of year already??’ (usually stated with genuine surprise!)

 If you are attempting to fit a years’ worth of meetings, catch ups, planning sessions and celebrations into the next few weeks you may be in for a shock.

You see, most people overestimate what they can do in a day, and underestimate what they can do in a year.

Recently, a client and I were discussing Parkinson’s Law.

Simply stated, Parkinson’s Law is the concept that ‘the amount of work expands to fill the time available for its completion.’

In other words, we tend to make a task as complex as the time frame allows.

Given 2 weeks, it will fit the deadline.

Given 2 hours, something will be produced.

What about 10 mins? You get the idea. …

If you want more detail on Parkinson’s Law and have the time, check out this 5 min video or read this article.

So how does this help you right now?

 Here are 3 simple ways to use Parkinson’s Law this festive season to complete everything important to you:

1.     Prioritise – Focus on the 10% of things that give you 90% of your results. Let the other stuff slide.

2. Whatever time you usually allocate to a task. Halve it. You may surprise yourself!

3. Lastly - Write a list. Check it. Twice. (then delete the ‘low value’ items)

Perhaps this law applies to other areas in your life too?

Each day has 86,400 seconds. How are you using yours?

Stay Hungry

- Glenn