Managing Time Effectively with Parkinson’s Law
Ever noticed how you always seem to be racing against time in order to finish some particular task, even though you have ample time for it? Well, there’s a scientific reason for it, and that’s called Parkinson’s Law.
What is Parkinson’s Law?
Parkinson’s Law states that the time needed to do something will expand in order to fill up the time we have. In other words, if you give yourself one week to complete a task, then you might spend the whole week on it-even when the task requires only a day.
Well, now, with the knowledge of that fact, why do we still wait until the last minute?
People have the tendency to use up all given time, which in some sense makes their tasks take longer. The more time you have, the more time you may take to finish a job even when you do not need that much time. It’s like your work expanded to fill up the time you gave it.
The second reason is procrastination. Instead of reflecting on how much time a task really needs, we often reflect on how much time we have and find ourselves waiting until the last minute. Then we’re racing against the clock.
How to repair?
Try estimating more realistically how much time it will really take for each task and set yourself a deadline close to that amount, then follow your own timeline, not necessarily the given one. In that way, you would be using your time more effectively by avoiding that last-minute rush.
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