This week I’ve been experimenting with Parkinson’s Law.

I’ve given myself one hour max for my daily emails.  And apart from running over today, it’s worked well.

I’ve saved a load of time (which was kinda the whole point).

And it’s backed up the idea that a task takes less time to complete if you give yourself less time to complete it.

One simple way to do this?

Set a deadline – and stick to it.  

Looks easy on paper but it's not always a walk in the park.

And it’s why Douglas Adams said “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by”.

Thing is, if you always push back your deadlines, they’re not really deadlines at all.  And you’ll never benefit from Parkinson’s Law.

Not a problem if you've got all the time in the world to swan around basking in the bliss of whatever you’re working on.

But it could be a problem if you’re short of time and just want to get the bloody thing done.

As luck would have it, there are ways to set deadlines and stick to them.

Quite simple ways, in fact.  But they’re often ignored. 

And they’re certainly ideas to be aware of if you’d like to kick your “deadline chops” up a notch or two.

On Monday, I’m re-opening my time management challenge.  And Day 1 explores these ideas in more detail.

This is how it’ll work:

The challenge will take place over email.  No Zoom calls.  No video recordings.  Just email.  Nice and simple.

Every day – for 5 days – I’ll send out an email covering topics like procrastination, energy, boundaries, distractions and your identity.  Each email will take no more than 5 mins to read.  

The emails will be jam-packed with concepts, ideas, tools and tactics to help you manage your time more effectively.  Plus questions designed to spark insights and actions tailored just for you.

In case you’re wondering who the challenge is for…

It’s for employees, freelancers and business owners alike.

It’s for anyone who always has more work than time to do that work…

Anyone who’d like a better balance between work time and non-working time…

And anyone who finds themselves under the cosh too often and would like more control over how they spend their time.

Checkout opens on Monday and closes on Friday.

If this sounds interesting, keep your eyes peeled for my emails next week.

That’s all for now.

Have a great weekend.

- Tom