Your project is taking longer than it should. Here’s the reason why. ⏱
Ever wonder why it always takes soooo long to finish a task in front of you?
You give a project more and more time, but it just doesn't end.
Turns out there's a reason for that...
It's called Parkinson's Law.
“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
Cyril Northcote Parkinson
It's fascinating to consider how much time itself can impact what we do and how we do it. If we schedule too much time to a task, that task will fill the time.
As a recovering procrastinator, this makes sense.
I’ve spent oh so many nights in studio and hours in the office toiling over projects. I come back to them time and time again because I want them to be just right.
We can often feel as though a deadline is so far away that we use the full window of time to experiment and create in the open.
We pace ourselves.
We take our time.
We look at it repeatedly
We tinker.
We go in circles.
But are we being productive? Or…
Are we just filling time?
This graphic represents a task and time we allot to completing that task. Note that the amount of actual working time to complete the task is far lower than the time we give it.
When we’re working on a project in the real world, we need to accommodate other things beyond the project itself — other demands, other projects, other goals. We expand the window from the start not for the project, but everything around it.
The problem is that once we give a project a set amount of time, there’s nothing stopping that project from expanding into the full timeline. What once could have taken hours now takes days, weeks, or even months to complete because that’s what we gave it in the first place.
Consider how much time you might give to an average project:
Is it an adequate amount?
Does it need that much time?
Could it be completed faster?
Could the extra time you gain back as a result be spent on something else?
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How to prevent Parkinson’s Law from taking over your project
Step #1 — Define what success looks like
The first thing you need to settle on before a project even begins is what success or completion looks like. What are the key components that, once finished, will represent a final form?
If you’re designing a building, perhaps it’s a series of drawings.
If you’re writing a blog post, perhaps it’s a number of words.
If you’re creating a marker drawing, perhaps it’s level of quality you’ve created before.
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Step #2 — Set mini deadlines
Projects rarely have a single step. But even projects with many steps don’t require us to wait until the very end of a larger timeline to be completed. Instead, set tiny deadlines in between. Give yourself the opportunity to have a quick deadline with a draft of whatever you’re working on wherever it’s at in the process.
Think of it as a “stop, drop, and print” moment. It doesn’t matter if it’s “ugly” or “unfinished.” The point is to get something on paper or in a format that you can begin to give it critical feedback. It forces progress over spinning.
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Step #3 — Let go of perfection
Procrastination sometimes masks our need to make something “perfect.” The hard truth for creative minds is that there is no such thing as “perfect.” And since that’s the case, just let it go.
There will always be something else you could have said, done, drawn, written, added to a project. Take that curiosity and experience into the next project, but let this one be what it is—a moment in time.
There’s more work to be done, new projects to begin.
Don’t let them balloon to overwhelm you.
Squeeze each project to its fundamental intent and keep moving forward.
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TL; DR
Projects take time
Project schedules compensate for the “stuff” around it
Because we have the time, we’ll use it (even if we don’t need it)
Setting expectations and mini-deadlines can help us complete a project more effectively
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Until next week, here are links to the treasures I’ve found out in the creative wilderness.
Enjoy!
Recent Finds I Recommend
Joanne Molinaro (via Rich Roll Podcast) Failure is just part of the deal (Reel) | I love this sentiment about failure. We have to go through failure to understand the potential within us. At any point in the game of life, we have an opportunity to change our path. Failure can give us the clues on when to do so.
Sean Cannell — Regular reading will transform your life completely (Reel) | Reading is a cheat code to life. It’s wild to me how few books we collectively read as a society in any given year (80% of households in the U.S. didn’t read any). For many years after college, I didn’t read any books either. But when reading one book per month can lead to us being in the 1% of income earners, reading becomes the unlock to financial freedom. Check this clip out and get inspired to read!
Zeta Yarwood — How to Reduce Your Manager’s Impact on Your Mental Health (LinkedIn) | A great post by Zeta Yarwood about workplace and mental health—specifically the relationship we have with supervisors or bosses. Sometimes a work environment becomes toxic because a boss treats us poorly. Sometimes it happens because the supervisor works differently than we do, creating friction. In either scenario, this article does a fantastic job to navigate how we can address the affect on our mental health.
A Quote I'm Pondering
“You’ll never be in this exact moment again. Take it all in. Appreciate today.”
— Anonymous
That's all for now.
Stay creative, my friends—and have a great week!
