Time Management today

I didn’t plan to write about Time Management today, but I do want to discuss something that struck my interest today. I often have too many topics that I want to cover (which in itself, is a form of writer’s block). As I was researching, trying to narrow it down, I ran across something I found interesting. So, I’ve scratched my topic list and decided to go with this spontaneous post.

The tips I’ve just ran across follow the subject of writer’s block—how ironic. Most of the tips are pretty generic: Find a quiet spot to write, divide up the work into manageable tasks, just write, etc.

The one that did catch my attention (it was also generic, but it was attention grabbing) was about setting time aside to write. It suggests to not use open-ended time. This really struck me because I’m guilty of it on most days. It went on to say that Parkinson’s Law states, “work will expand to fill the time available.”

WHOA! I wasn’t aware of this law—but I do know it’s absolutely true—just like the law of gravity. Okay, maybe it isn’t as scientific, but it makes perfect sense. As we don’t, time doesn’t expand—but work does and can. So maybe it is a bit scientific?

It reminded me of Jonathan’s recent post How a Timer Can Help Your Productivity. I’ve been using his method for NaNoWriMo, but didn’t think to use it for work related writing too much—not as much as I should anyway.

After reading about Parkinson’s Law, I think this is something that should be put in to place every day, for everything I write. I do tend to get more work done in a 20 or 30 minute sprint than I do just sitting here trying to write open-ended.

The law basically breaks down to say if set a three hour time limit for work, projects or tasks, it’ll take three hours to complete. If you were to set it for a two hour limit, you’d get the same amount of work done but in less time, saving yourself an hour.

To tie this all together:
Set your work hours.
Use a timer for short sprints.
Get your work done in the allotted work hours.
Enjoy your free time!