How to get the job done and be more productive
Parkinson’s Law posits that work will expand so as to fill the time available for its completion. Meaning, the more time you have to get something done, the more time it will take you. It is called Parkinson’s Law because it was first articulated by Cyril Northcote Parkinson in an essay he published in The Economist in 1955. It was later reprinted together with other essays in the book Parkinson’s Law: The Pursuit of Progress (London, John Murray, 1958).
I’ve often heard that time management strategies are supposed to help get the job done and be more productive. But, I think the idea of time management is misleading. I don’t think you can manage time because time is a finite concept. There are only a certain number of minutes in an hour, hours in a day, and days in a week. They do not expand or contract according to our will. Plus, you don’t always know how much time it’s going to take to complete a project or task.
However, we can manage our commitments.
Commitments are manageable because you can prioritize commitments. When you do, you focus on the most important commitments to get the job done and be more productive. It’s really a rather simple concept. Spend your time making and managing your commitments and then go about fulfilling them. Simple as that. If you master the skill of commitment making and fulfilling as your methodology for being more productive, you’ll find you make better commitments. And, you’ll stop over-committing to unattractive or unproductive initiatives. Instead, you’ll be more selective with respect to the commitments you make and cultivate more excitement and passion to fulfill those commitments. Bottom line: you’ll get the job done and be more productive.
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Resource for commitment making and fulfilling: www.cothrive.com (I don’t have any financial connection to company or product but I do use it personally to make and fulfill my commitments. It helps me get the job done and be more productive.)
This is very true Michael… putting in priority those that are necessary to get done soonest and leaving the rest that can be done in a snap… and if I may add, if multiplying yourself is necessary to get a task done, it would most likely that the business progress would be more faster than it should.
I wrote about this in reviewing Seth’s new book Linchpin – to me, making a commitment to your most important – and thus often scary – work first thing in the day is what so many of us forget to do. We get swept up in busy work and even though that work needs to be done, it’s like junk in the garage — it expands to fill the space we give it. Thanks for a timely reminder!
Right on, Michael! When we make commitments rooted in our values and priorities, we can rest easy that we are doing the right thing at the right time, and we will feel good doing it — which makes being productive much more fulfilling and fun because we know we are moving toward what we really want. Thanks for a great post!
The truth is music to my ears! Why is this such a difficult concept for Corporate America to accept? Amazingly enough, I often was challenged by upper management when I said I needed to keep my sales teams focused on their biggest commitments to clients. It didn’t seem to matter to them. They just wanted to see more effort at any cost. It didn’t matter how important the commitment was, it only seem to matter how much you were able to get done in a certain period of time – so old school! I am forever grateful to be self employed.
Not a great post for time management experts…just kidding Great post!
Thanks for this Michael! For me, it is about finding the balance between different types of committments – work, family, hobbies, etc., and determining how much time I can put into each in a satisfying way.
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