How Less Time Helps You Do More

Have you ever sat down to write an email, finish a report, or tackle a simple task, only to watch it consume far more time than it should have? It can feel frustrating, especially when you thought having extra time would make things easier. But what if more time is actually part of the problem?

The idea behind Parkinson's Law is surprisingly simple: work expands to fill the time available for its completion. What started as a satirical observation in the 1950s has since been supported by research showing that when people are given more time than they need, they tend to use it, whether the task requires it or not.

In this episode, we're exploring why open-ended time can lead to procrastination, overthinking, perfectionism, and unnecessary task expansion. More importantly, you'll learn how to use intentional time constraints to your advantage so you can focus better, make progress faster, and create a more sustainable approach to productivity that works with your brain instead of against it.

This week, episode 317 of the Positively Living® Podcast explores the practical side of Parkinson's Law and shares simple ways to use time boundaries, self-created deadlines, and focused work sessions to accomplish more without rushing or burning out.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand how Parkinson's Law causes tasks to expand simply because more time is available.
• Recognize why open-ended projects often lead to procrastination, overthinking, and perfectionism.
• Learn why urgency and deadlines can dramatically improve focus, especially for ADHD brains.
• Use timeboxing to create clear boundaries that help your brain stay engaged and productive.
• Define what "done" looks like before you begin to avoid endless tweaking and refinement.
• Create meaningful self-imposed deadlines when external deadlines don't exist.
• Improve focus and consistency by working in shorter, intentional sprints instead of marathon sessions.
• Develop the self-awareness to recognize when a task genuinely needs more time versus when it's simply expanding to fill available space.

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Learn more about Positively LivingⓇ and Lisa at https://positivelyproductive.com/podcast/

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Transcript

Lisa Zawronty: 0:23

So what's your goal with time? The goal is not to squeeze more in. That's not what this is about. But it is to be more intentional about the time you assign to things, because open-ended or extremely large, if you happen to have it, doesn't serve you as well as it seems like it should. Now Conversely, having too little time to do things doesn't really serve you either. So what we're looking for here is the sweet and to keep things nice and tight and efficient in as much as you can. Sustainable productivity is about doing what matters in a way that works for your real life and your brain. Welcome to the Positively Living podcast. I'm your host, Lisa, and today we're talking about why giving yourself more time might actually be working against you. If you've ever sat down to write an email, work on a report, or even a simple to-do list, and somehow it took you three times longer than it should have, you're not alone. There are actually several reasons why this can happen, and today we're looking at one of them that has a surprisingly useful flip side. We're talking about something referred to as Parkinson's Law. It's not actually a law, despite its name. It's more accurately described as an axiom, not a proven scientific principle, but an observation. It was coined by a British historian named Cyril Northcote Parkinson back in 1955. He wrote it as satire, poking fun at bureaucracy and how organizations tend to grow regardless of how much work actually needs to be done. But the idea has taken on a life of its own in productivity conversations. The line he's famous for is, "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." It was meant to be funny, but it resonated with so many people. They recognized that pattern, and eventually researchers decided to test In 1966, psychologists Elliot Aronson and Edward Gerard published a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, where participants were given either five or 15 minutes to complete a task that could realistically be done in five. Those given the extra time spent significantly more of it actively working, and the effect didn't stop there. When given a second task afterward, the people who had excess time on the first task chose to spend more time on the second one, too. Then in 1999, researchers Brannon, Hershberger, and Brock ran a series of controlled experiments published in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. Participants were told a fourth task had been canceled. Those who got that news before finishing their third task consistently prolonged their work on it compared to participants who didn't know. And the effect held across multiple replications. What might be most telling is that factors like how interested participants were in the task or how difficult they found it didn't change anything. Given more time, they simply used it. So what started as a satirical observation turned out to reflect something real about how we relate to time. So why does this pattern feel familiar? Think about the last time you had a real deadline, one with actual consequences, a presentation or submission, a flight to catch, people coming over to visit. Man, that is the best way for me to get my house clean, I'll tell you that. So how much did you get done in that final window of time? And yes, ADHD folk, I am talking to you. We'll get to that in a minute. I'm guessing probably a lot, probably more than felt possible when you had plenty of time in front of you. That's a common pattern for many of us. When time is open-ended, whether actual or perceived, tasks tend to stretch, sometimes by procrastination, though not always. We may take longer by second-guessing, refining, not because the work requires it, but because the time is there and the brain wants to fill it somehow. When the deadline feels far off or there isn't one at all, there's no urgency to pace against. And for those with ADHD, this can be especially pronounced. Without a deadline close enough to feel real, the brain often won't activate on the task at all. There's a phrase I learned that it's either now or not now, and so as soon as we perceive it as not now, that task isn't even on your radar. So work gets pushed toward the last available window, and not because of poor planning, but because that's when the brain finally has something concrete to respond to. And this is because ADHD brains are wired around urgency. When a deadline is close, real or self-created, the brain uses adrenaline in place of dopamine to activate, And that's because ADHD brains aren't as effective with producing dopamine needed. And that's what makes starting and sustaining focus suddenly feel so possible at the 11th hour So knowing this, we can flip the script. If work tends to expand to fill available time, then consciously shrinking the time can work in your favor. Not by rushing and not by cutting corners, but by giving the task a smaller container, a defined start and a defined end, so your brain knows what it's working toward and what it has to work with. This is the practical application of the Parkinson's Axiom, or the flip side of it, and it's genuinely useful once you start working with it. Here are some ways to accomplish this. You can time box your task. Instead of putting work on project on your list, assign it a specific window instead of leaving it open-ended with a goal like until it's done. I remember watching Alton Brown. He is one of my all-time favorites because he blends science and food, and that's definitely a way to get my attention. Bring the food in. So when he was explaining it, he would often do these characters, and there was this chef that would say,"You cook it until it's done." And Alton would come along and be like, "Nope, here's the more specific way to do it." And that's what you wanna think of, is being specific about your timing. The constraint shifts how your brain engages from the start. It's okay if the task isn't completed in this time, but you have a specific finish line, and that changes everything. You can define done before you begin. A lot of task expansion can happen because we never decide what finished actually looks like. So if you want to work on something until it is complete, and I'm using the air quotes there, you need to clearly define what that would be. What does that look like? Before you start, ask, "What does good enough look like here? Where's a stopping point for me? What would make this complete, acceptable, sufficient?" Give your task an endpoint, whether it's timing or specifics on what it has to look like, not just a starting point You can create your own deadlines. When external deadlines don't exist or are maybe too far away, build in your own and treat them as real. Ways to do that would be to tell someone. It could be a friend, a colleague, an accountability coach. I do this a lot with my clients. They have something that they need to work on, and they make sure to tell me about the task so that I can check in with them. And they know that when they meet with me, they're going to have to say to Lisa, "I did this or I didn't." And oftentimes, that creates the urgency they need. You can put it on your calendar, and when you begin, definitely set a timer. The brain responds to structure even when it's self-generated, especially once you've practiced taking your own limits seriously. You have to keep your own promises. That's part of the practice. But once you do, it can really work for you. And you can work in shorter sprints, and I highly recommend this for so many reasons. Rather than blocking out multiple hours and hoping for the best, which we all know tends to end in wandering off, losing track of time, and losing track of progress, and losing track of your project, right? There's a lot of losing track involved. Instead of doing that, try multiple focused shorter sessions with a break in between. Shorter windows tend to produce sharper focus. The Pomodoro Technique might be what you're thinking of when I describe that, and you would be right. It's built on this exact principle. And research on deliberate practice supports it. The idea is that sustained focused attention has real limits, and working with those limits consistently outperforms pushing through them. Part of this equation here is recognizing when this happens, and that it happens. The self-awareness piece is an important part of it. Learning to notice when a task is expanding on you versus you genuinely needing more time is a skill to develop. As with most things, it gets easier with practice. Some questions worth asking when a task starts running long would be, " Is this taking more time because it needs more or because I happen to have more time? Am I refining it or am I stalling or feeling unsure? What would I do differently if I had less time, even half the time I have right now?" Asking these questions encourages your brain to identify what actually matters here and maybe offer some different and more efficient tactics. The answers may surprise you So what's your goal with time? The goal is not to squeeze more in. That's not what this is about. But it is to be more intentional about the time you assign to things, because open-ended or extremely large, if you happen to have it, doesn't serve you as well as it seems like it should. Now Conversely, having too little time to do things doesn't really serve you either. So what we're looking for here is the sweet and to keep things nice and tight and efficient in as much as you can. Sustainable productivity is about doing what matters in a way that works for your real life and your brain. The Parkinson's Axiom gives us another way to figure that out, and a reminder that sometimes the most useful thing you can do is set a limit and trust yourself to work within it If you'd like more tips on working in a way that's best for you, your life, your brain, be sure to check out the solo episode playlist on the podcast page of the positivelyproductive.com website, positivelyproductive.com/podcast. I'll link that directly in the show notes, and what you'll find there is the solo episodes I've done that focus on these kinds of topics. And the best part about it is they're generally shorter episodes, somewhere between the 15 to 25 minute, sometimes a little shorter than that, so it can work really well to listen while you're taking a walk or taking a drive And if you're ready to work through any of this with more direct support, check out the coaching page of the positivelyproductive.com website for ways to work with me. That's positivelyproductive.com/coaching. You'll find easy ways to start. For example, a low-risk way to start with me is called the Clarity Call, and that is a direct video coaching session. There's also the calendar-free coaching on-demand option called Async Coaching, where we work together through a messaging app when it's convenient for you I encourage you to pay closer attention to how tasks play out for you and see if you can catch the Parkinson's law in action here. The next time tasks start to stretch, you'll know what's happening, and you'll know how to handle it