How to get more done with time-blocking

They say if you want something done, give it to a busy person. But do you know why ‘they’ say it? Apparently, it’s Parkinson’s Law. 

Parkinson’s Law is an observation from Cyril Northcote Parkinson: work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion. He said it in 1955, but the phenomenon is probably truer now than ever.

Find yourself with a small task that takes ages to do (*cough* booking appointments *cough*)? What about documents that you spend hours finessing or decisions you ponder for weeks? Conversely, during busy times, are you shocked by the amount you can tick off quickly simply because you have to? 

The more you think about it, the truer it is: tasks magically fill the time you have. 

Parkinson’s Law has serious implications for women

If you tuned in to our member-exclusive interview with Marisa Fong, you’ll have heard her discuss limiting beliefs—the constraints we put on our own success. When she co-founded a boutique recruitment agency, Marisa didn’t let its small size put her off pitching for (and winning) big contracts. Others in her position assumed they couldn’t—so they didn’t. 

When Madison Recruitment was acquired in a record-breaking deal in 2013, it had 100 staff and a $36 million price tag. It’s a great example of what happens when we stop believing we can’t. 

Why do we say this? Because right now, a large group of professional women believe they can’t take on a bigger role because they don’t have the time. As a company devoted to closing the gender leadership gap, this is death metal music to our Swifty ears.

Here’s another adage: Want something done? Give it to a mother.

When time is a constraint, you get sh*t done quickly and efficiently – there’s no space for scopes to expand and priorities to be ignored. Many working mothers are shocked by how much more they now cram into a short space of time simply because they have to.

And it’s not just working parents—Parkinson’s Law is just as relevant to the child-free among us. Kids are delightful, but many of us (including Nat) have equally valuable life goals—we don’t want to be working 24/7 either!

None of us have as much time as we’d like, but what if we embrace it as a constraint instead of constraining our own goals? By setting very clear timeframes, we can trick our brains into being more effective.

Make time a constraint

In the product world, we regularly ‘size’ projects. Teams estimate how long a piece of work should take before kicking off; this helps with planning and resourcing. At Powrsuit, we use a slightly tweaked approach: estimating how much time we should spend on a task based on the value it adds.

Are you working on a pitch for a piece of work? If it’s worth a month’s revenue, you’ll want to spend a good few hours getting it right. For small jobs, cut that time in half. The same goes for documents that’ll wind up in decision-maker’s hands vs a quick update email to someone you regularly work with. Building your personal brand on Linkedin? Consistency wins, so challenge yourself to post regularly in dedicated 15-minute blocks. For tasks like sending emails, decide the total time and get them all done at once.

Simply by sizing your work before embarking on it, you’ve constrained your time. When a task is only worth an hour, scope creep, distractions and procrastination don’t get a look in – you only have 60 minutes to tick it off. 

It doesn’t need to take a lot of effort or analysis, either. Think about your next task. Based on the value you think it’ll add, decide how much time you should spend on it. Block out the time in your calendar (either in one slot or several smaller ones), and try to stick to it. 

Did you get your estimate wrong? No problem; try again next time. This is about embracing time as a constraint, not being perfect.

Challenge that internal monologue

If you’re one of the 70% of us who have an internal monologue, it might be responsible for embedding limiting beliefs about time. You have more control over it than you might think, and you don’t need the same amount of it as the person who did the job before you. 

The only requirement for taking on a promotion or project is the ability to deliver, so don’t count yourself out before you even get started.

Let Parkinson’s voice challenge that internal monologue and put your hand up.