Ever heard of Parkinson's Law? Here's a synopsis: work expands to fill the amount of time allotted for completion. In other words, if you have a week it'll take a week. If you have two months it'll take two months. If you have six hours it'll take six hours.
Today is my deadline for my next book, Primal. I'll submit the entire rough draft sans epilogue. And it's no coincidence that its coming down to the last day. It's Parkinson's Law. I'm sure I could have finished it a month ago. And I would love to have two more months. The bottom line? It'll take however long I have! And that's why I need deadlines. I hate them. But I need them. Especially because I have perfectionist tendencies.
Today is my deadline for my next book, Primal. I'll submit the entire rough draft sans epilogue. And it's no coincidence that its coming down to the last day. It's Parkinson's Law. I'm sure I could have finished it a month ago. And I would love to have two more months. The bottom line? It'll take however long I have! And that's why I need deadlines. I hate them. But I need them. Especially because I have perfectionist tendencies.
9 Comments:
Never heard of this law but it makes sense as I look back over my life experience. Now that I know about it, I'll be more deliberate in making it work for me. Thanks for the heads up on this. This simple post could change my life!
Mark - I don't know if you are looking for people to read Primal and promote it on websites and blogs, but there are two blogs that I write for and I would love to read it early if possible and write about it. I have really been challenged and encouraged by you in the last couple years at Catalyst and through your blog and NCC.
Thanks
Matt Nash
mattchargerfan@gmail.com
Put another way . . . If you wait until the last minute, it will only take a minute.
-Ken
"If it wasn't for the last minute, things would never get done."
- someone more wise than me
Reminds me of how happy I get everytime a the last of a soda fits perfectly in my glass of ice: no matter how big the glass is, how much ice is in it, or how much soda is left. :P
Personally Mark I've found I seem to write and pit forth my best material when I'm under the tightest of deadlines. Maybe it's the deeper, richer focus that goes into or maybe it' the fact that I go with my gut.
My best Christmas shppping also is done under the tightest of time limits. Thanks for sharing the "law". Maybe I should be more intentional about making shorter time limits on alot of my ministry and life.
This seems like an educated person justifying procrastination, but I'm all for it. And I don't know about anyone else but I love the adrenaline of doing things last minute, and it usually ends up being my best work, though the details are always forgotten (wrapping, mechanics, putting all the lug nuts back on, etc.).
Then of course there's the method employeed by everyone's favorite starship engineer, Montgomery Scott (Scotty); Tell them it will take twice as long as you think it will, so when you get done in half the time you told them, you look like a miracle worker.
hi Mark. Thanks for teaching me something today. I make it a goal to learn something new each day in my first hour of the day.
Thanks
Paul.
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