What if you could steal back time from one of the biggest time thieves? How would your life be different? What would you be able to accomplish?
Everyone gets the same 24 hours each day. There will never be enough minutes in a day to get everything done. As much as we say we want more hours in the day, do we really want more time added to an already long day?! Some days I can’t wait for it to be over. I drop into bed with the hope tomorrow will be better.
My guess is we don’t want more hours in a day. Really, what we want is to accomplish what we need to and still have time left for a personal life. We want more margin in our lives.
. . . Those glorious, empty spaces that allow us to breathe. – Jed Jurchenko
So how do we steal back time?
Parkinson’s Law
Not many people have heard of Parkinson’s Law, yet we’ve all experienced it.
Grades are due in three weeks. Stacks of ungraded student work sits in a pile on your desk. As the Monday morning deadline approaches, the stress increases, and you burn through the pile of student papers the weekend before grades are due. Just in the nick of time.
January 1 marks the arrival of tax season. April 15 is 3 ½ months away. As Tax Day arrives, you glue yourself to the computer and magically get the taxes filed and submitted at 11:58pm.
On Wednesday morning an unpleasant parent email arrives in your inbox. On Friday afternoon before you leave for the weekend, you quickly draft a reply and hit send.
Does any of this sound familiar? This is Parkinson’s Law at work! C. Northcote Parkinson discovered an irrefutable law.
. . . Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
All of those tasks expanded to fill the time you gave them. Those tasks stole precious time from you. 
Have you ever noticed the clarity that comes with an impending deadline? With limited time, you reduce the task to what is most important, stripping away all of the excuses that kept you from completing the task earlier. The pressure of the deadline brings clarity about what is most critical and you just do it. If only we could get that kind of clarity sooner.
The greatest psychic cost of putting off the grading, the tax return, and the unpleasant email, is the chronic stress, which impacts your health. Additionally, delaying tasks until the last minute affects your ability to be fully present in the moment. Relaxing and enjoying time with family or friends is nearly impossible when you are thinking about a response to an unpleasant email, the lesson plans you have to write, or the student work you need to grade.
Some argue “procrastinating” helps them be more focused and productive. Unfortunately, research does not support this strategy in the long term. Although it may work temporarily, the habitual practice of procrastination negatively affects the quality of your work.
Parkinson’s Law may sound like bad news. But it’s not. You can harness the power of Parkinson’s Law and put it to work for you.
How to Make Parkinson’s Law Work for You Not against You
Research has identified specific strategies we can use to arrest this time thief and lock him up.
Before you tackle those tasks you have some decisions to make. You decide whether you will tackle the entire task at once or whether you will break it down into more manageable pieces. You determine how long it will take to complete the task, and you choose the deadline. The task will expand to fill only the time you allow it and no more.
Step 1 – Break down tasks into manageable chunks.
Break down larger tasks into manageable chunks. All tasks can be broken down into next action steps. David Allen, creator and author of Getting Things Done, talks about the power of the next action.
It’s time for an oil change. What is your next actionable step? Make an appointment with the repair shop. Nope! That may not be your next step. It might be to look up the phone number for the repair shop. Some days, the thought of getting your car into the shop for an oil change before 5:00 pm may push you over the edge. Looking up a phone number is totally doable.
Break down tasks into manageable chunks and then ask yourself, what is my next action step? This process moves those tasks forward, especially when the task seems daunting or overwhelming.
Step 2 – Set a deadline for yourself.
External deadlines are powerful, but research shows that self-imposed deadlines are just as effective. Don’t let others set deadlines for you. Set them for yourself. Most externally imposed deadlines are not reflective of the actual time needed to complete the task.
Set a realistic (shorter) self-imposed deadline for that next task and stick to it. Remember the task will always expand all on its own unless you arrest it. Don’t allow the task to steal your time.
Step 3 – Use a timer.
Timers help you meet deadlines. Use a timer when you are ready to work on a task, whether it’s writing lesson plans, responding to email, or cleaning up the classroom. Choose a specific task such as grading a specific class assignment. Estimate how long you think it will take. Set a timer for 15-20 minutes and work until the timer goes off. The pressure of the timer will help keep you focused.
You may finish the task before the timer dings. If you aren’t quite finished when the timer dings, estimate how much more time you need to complete the task and reset the timer for another 3-5 minutes. Then, take a 2-3 minute break and pat yourself on the back. Select the next task and set the timer again. The more you use the timer the more accurate your time estimates will be for specific tasks.
The countdown of the timer provides just enough psychological stress you need to focus and get the job the done, while preventing tasks from expanding to fill time. You will be surprised by how much time you can steal back simply by using a timer for your daily tasks, no matter how large or small.
Step 4 – Reward yourself for finishing earlier than your deadline.
Often what happens when we wait until the last minute to complete something we know we should have finished sooner, we tend to punish ourselves. Negative self-talk does not work to change behavior, but research shows when it comes to procrastination, rewarding yourself does make a difference.
Creating an incentive can help you with those tasks that are particularly unpleasant. A reward can be as simple as taking a break, reading the next chapter in your novel, or making yourself a cup of tea—whatever helps you work towards completing the task. When you are finished, reward yourself for finishing earlier than the deadline.
Bonus Step 5 – Forgive yourself.
If you do Steps 1-4, you should not need this step. But, we are all human, so there may come a time when you need Step 5.
Those who extend forgiveness to themselves for procrastinating are less likely to repeat the behavior on the next task. We are often more generous with forgiveness to others than to ourselves. When we don’t live up to our own standards, we can take on a sense of failure and guilt. You are more likely to learn from the situation and have a better outcome next time, if you forgive yourself.
If for some reason you need permission to forgive yourself for procrastinating and allowing tasks to steal your time, I give you permission to forgive yourself. We’ve all been there.
You now have some new tools in your toolbox to complete your daily tasks more efficiently. Steal back your time by making Parkinson’s Law work for you not against you. Then go teach your students how to make Parkinson’s Law work for them.
Which task is your greatest time thief? How will you use your “glorious open space” once you take back the time that’s been stolen? Leave a comment below.