In 1955, Cyril Northcote Parkinson penned an essay in The Economist that began with the sentence: “It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
This essay fundamentally influenced the way people think about resource management, and the dynamic has since become known as Parkinson’s Law.
We commonly think that a task will take as long as it requires. However, the inverse is actually true. A task will take as long as the time you give to it.
So the next time you need to do something, consider giving yourself a hard constraint.
Do you really need to set aside an hour for that meeting? Or can you do it in 15 minutes?
Will that proposal really need to take a week? Or can you turn it around in one day?
Do you really need to spend 4 years studying for your degree? Or can you complete it in 2 years?
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