Cover Photo Source: Photo by Fred Kloet on Unsplash
I was doing schoolwork at home the other day and noticed my room was messy. Dirty clothes, dust, empty coffee cup(s) on the desk – you get the idea.
I decided to get cleaning, but before I started, I set a 15-minute timer on my phone so that I would be more efficient (in theory) with my time to be able to get back to my work ASAP.
Because of the condensed time-frame, I ended up cleaning the room in 11 minutes instead of 15. Without a timer, I’m pretty sure my inclination for procrastination would have made the task take much longer than 15 minutes – and I probably would have done a worse job, at that.
Setting a specific time limit to complete a task with the intention of increasing productivity sounded like something I read about in a psychology textbook at some point – I know I don’t usually come up with quality ideas like that on my own!
I did some googling and quickly found what I was looking for.
Less (Time) Is More
Cyril Northcote Parkinson wrote an article for the Economist in 1955 titled “Parkinson’s Law”, where he described the phenomenon I had experienced. In the opening sentence of the essay, he delivers the definition of his law.
Parkinson’s Law: “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”.
In other words, the more time you have to complete a task, the more time it will take you to complete the task. People tend to stretch the work that they do to match the deadline that they are assigned, or that they’ve assigned to themselves.
Putting a time constraint on the task of cleaning my room forced me to be efficient. I wasn’t even sure if 15 minutes would be enough time to get the job done, so my pace quickened and my choices narrowed.
Without a time constraint, the task would have expanded to fill the time given. This is a clear example of what Parkinson was talking about.
People run into trouble when they leave a large task to the last minute, but miscalculate and bite off more than they can chew in the time frame available. That’s procrastination done incorrectly – and these people make the rest of us (the responsible procrastinators) look bad.
Besides this one potential procrastination issue, it seems forcing yourself to accomplish activities in restricted amounts of time can improve efficiency and in turn increase productivity.
(Bench) Pressed for Time
Have you ever squeezed in a workout while pressed for time?
Set a 30-minute timer on your phone and try to get as good of a workout as you normally would in an hour, and you’ll be surprised with what you can accomplish.
Better use of time (reduced rest intervals), better use of energy (quality exercise selection), and increased focus are all outcomes of having less time to work with to accomplish the task.
I’ve heard that less is more, but I never really knew what that meant until now.
This entire train of thought is interesting because it opens up the discussion regarding quality of time vs quantity of time needed to get things done.
And most people want to get things done.
You don’t need to be in the gym for 2 hours at a time, or for 7 days in a row (yes, there are some exceptions, but you and I are probably not exceptional – and that’s ok).
It’s how you spend your time, not how much time you spend.
Less is more; time is yours – use it well and it will reward you.
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