Blogging Tips

Parkinson’s Law

Written by Patti Stafford from Patti Stafford

parkinsonslaw I didn’t plan to write about Time Management today, but I do want to discuss something that struck my interest today. I often have too many topics that I want to cover (which in itself, is a form of writer’s block). As I was researching, trying to narrow it down, I ran across something I found interesting. So, I’ve scratched my topic list and decided to go with this spontaneous post.

The tips I’ve just ran across follow the subject of writer’s block—how ironic. Most of the tips are pretty generic: Find a quiet spot to write, divide up the work into manageable tasks, just write, etc.

The one that did catch my attention (it was also generic, but it was attention grabbing) was about setting time aside to write. It suggests to not use open-ended time. This really struck me because I’m guilty of it on most days. It went on to say that Parkinson’s Law states, “work will expand to fill the time available.”

WHOA! I wasn’t aware of this law—but I do know it’s absolutely true—just like the law of gravity. Okay, maybe it isn’t as scientific, but it makes perfect sense. As we don’t, time doesn’t expand—but work does and can. So maybe it is a bit scientific?

It reminded me of Jonathan’s recent post How a Timer Can Help Your Productivity. I’ve been using his method for NaNoWriMo, but didn’t think to use it for work related writing too much—not as much as I should anyway.

After reading about Parkinson’s Law, I think this is something that should be put in to place every day, for everything I write. I do tend to get more work done in a 20 or 30 minute sprint than I do just sitting here trying to write open-ended.

The law basically breaks down to say if set a three hour time limit for work, projects or tasks, it’ll take three hours to complete. If you were to set it for a two hour limit, you’d get the same amount of work done but in less time, saving yourself an hour.

To tie this all together:
Set your work hours.
Use a timer for short sprints.
Get your work done in the allotted work hours.
Enjoy your free time!

Written by Patti Stafford from Patti Stafford
Posted on November 6th, 2009 and filed under Writing
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7 Responses to “Parkinson’s Law”

Author comments are in a darker gray color for you to easily identify the posts author in the comments

Sharon Ideas says:

November 6, 2009 at 3:50 pm

Wow…couldn’t have said it better…work does indeed fill the time available. I have found that I get a lot more done when I actually schedule in time to write, comment, blog, and do the things I want to get done. For me, scheduling is the only way to go–I have to keep my business running plus keep my family happy and the magic potion is all in the scheduling!

cheers!
David Walker says:

November 6, 2009 at 10:54 pm

I agree with both Patti and Sharon; setting and following time schedules works, especially when there’s some writing to be done. I find when I don’t give myself a time limit, a project that takes an hour lasts three times longer because I end up doing a lot of things not related to the work. The extra free time will be highly appreciated…
Raisins says:

November 7, 2009 at 2:45 am

Setting and following time schedules works, especially when there’s some writing to be done. I think the information presented will be useful to many people a lot.
Vishal Sanjay says:

November 7, 2009 at 3:54 am

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Jackie @ Internet Marketing Strategy for Beginners says:

November 7, 2009 at 5:31 pm

I just found this blog today while looking through some twitter lists ~ this is a great topic. People think I’m crazy (including my husband) that I keep a timer on my desk. But it totally helps!! I have 3 hours a day of peace and quiet (while the little one is at school) so I have to make the most out of it. A timer seriously helps me do this. I mean the whole point of being a blogger is to have free time to spend with my kid, right? So anything that helps me get that done is a good thing in my book!
Patti Stafford says:

November 7, 2009 at 9:39 pm

Thanks for all the great comments. I personally have to thank Jonathan for his great post on using a timer. It works great when I remember to use it. Persistence will pay off and it will become habit.

Thanks again,
Patti
krissy knox says:

November 11, 2009 at 1:17 am

Patti,

Thanks for the tip! This makes total sense. I see now that if I give myself unended time, it takes me much longer time to write a post, bc I find other things to do while I’m writing the post. I esp. love Twitter. Not that it’s not important to network, it’s just not what I need to be doing at the same time as writing! Thanks for an excellent post!

krissy knox
connect w me on twitter
http://twitter.com/iamkrissy