The Time Trap: Unraveling Parkinson's Law for Better Time Management

I'd never heard of Parkinson's Law before, but it is soooo apt! It was coined by a C. Northcote Parkinson, a naval historian who, in 1955, wrote this little bit of satirical wisdom:

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion

Oh yeah, that is a truism if there ever was one! I bump up against this all the time. Here's an example of how this works in my life...

Blogging Time Evaporates

I go to Starbucks at 5:30. I know that I have 2.5 hours at Starbucks, plenty of time to write at least 1, and more likely, 2 blogs! Plenty of time. Oodles of time!

So, what do I do? Do I start writing a blog as soon as I land at Starbucks? No, I do not. I do some journaling. I then take a look at my To-Do list which as blog ideas. But I can't decide on a blog topic so I decide to think about it for a bit. I mean, I have oodles of time, right?

In the meantime, I organize my To-Do list and rearrange a few things, add a few things, postpone a few things. I handle some small tasks that have been niggling at me and that keep falling through the cracks. I reconsult my to-do list and rearrange my blog topic ideas. I handle a few more tiny tasks.

Until, I look at the clock and... shoot... it's already 6:45 am! I've only got 1.25 hours left! Now I'll be lucky if I get 1 blog done! What the heck? Where'd the time go?

The thing is... writing blogs requires way more effort than fiddling with my to-do list or handling small tasks. Fiddling with my To-Do list is "fun" and doesn't require a lot of effort. If I know that I have 2.5 hours... and I really, really want to get two blogs written... then I'd have to actually focus and get to work!

Adding Bells & Whistles

This is what Parkinson's Law can also look like... we know that we have a report that is due in 2 weeks. Do we work on it immediately? No, we do not. At least I don't. There's plenty of time. Oodles of time. We might chip away at the report with lackluster enthusiasm, until the final day when we shift into Super Gear and blast through it to the exclusion of everything else.

Or... we might decide, with 10 days to go, that we need to do a bunch of research on the topic. Maybe create pretty PowerPoints and colourful spreadsheets. We might delve deeper than we need to into the finer details of the data that we are presenting. Do we need colourful spreadsheets and pretty PowerPoints? No, we do not. Do we need the extra research? No we do not. But we have 2 weeks, don't we! Let's spruce it up. And those things are "fun"! When really... that report, plain and simple, could take 4 hours. Maybe it won't be perfect, but it will be done.

Drifting with no Deadlines

Where I also bump up against Parkinson's Law is when there is NO deadline. OMG... things just languish on my To-Do list and keep getting pushed down the list, down, down, down. But in the meantime, they take up mental energy... gotta work on that, gotta think about that, gotta research that, gotta, gotta, gotta... until all of a sudden, it becomes critical and then I shift into Super Gear and get it done.

For example, we are thinking about getting a new TV for the Airbnb because the current one is 30" which is tiny. There is no set deadline for this, so I can spend a lot of time researching TVs and comparing features and checking out stores. What's in Costco? What's in BestBuy? I don't know which is better... Samsung? LG? Panasonic? Dither, dither. Months get spent on this "project".

But imagine... the TV in the suite breaks! How fast do you think I can decide on a TV if that were to happen? Super fast! Because the deadline is "NOW"!

Or... how about this one... something that is a simple, small, neat, compact task... gets postponed and postponed until... it blows up in your face and all of a sudden, a 30 minute task has turned into a 4 hour damage control project. Think... taking the car in for an oil change... or not.

But there is hope... there are ways to get around Parkinson's Law and it's aftereffects.

Identify the Value

How important is this project or task? Why is it even on my list? Surely, it has some value. A TV for the suite definitely has value but while we have a functioning one, the value of buying a new one is pretty low. No one has complained about the size of it. If the functioning one were to go on the fritz, then the value of getting a new one skyrockets.

Identify the Scope

If we give ourselves too much time, there is a tendency to add bells and whistles to a project. We have the time so why not add colourful spreadsheets and other frills to a task. But we really don't need to do that.

We want to replace the sink in the suite... but if we're doing that, then maybe it's time to replace the counter. And if we're doing that, we might as well add a backsplash. And heck... it's probably a good idea to paint the cabinets.

All of a sudden, a 30 minute sink replacement has ballooned into a full kitchen remodel. Stick with the original scope and resist the urge to expand things.

Identify Tradeoffs

There's a tradeoff between scope, time and cost. A give and take. If the TV goes on the fritz NOW... I can't wait for a Boxing Day sale. I need to forgo waiting for a cheaper price and just buy the TV now!

Break Things Up

Obviously, this is a huge one. I have had "write book" on my to-do list for a long time. It's a specific book, I've done a lot of research but... "write book" is just too big and unwieldy. The deadline for "write book" is also nebulous. And with no deadline and no plan... it'll be on my list forever.

The trick is to break up the project "write book" into a multitude of smaller projects and tasks, each with their own realistic deadline. Small and short will get things done. Big and long will be on my To-Do list forever.

Set the Timeline

Yes, this is important. I can't tell you how many projects on my list have no deadlines. They languish there for months. I'll do it "someday" and someday never comes because there is no timeline. So it's to set up a timeline, but a realistic one.

I know that I can generally get a blog written in 45-60 minutes. So on a Starbucks morning, it's to work backwards from my departure time of 8 am. I need to start writing the second blog by 7 am and so the first one needs to be started at 6 am. That gives me 30 minutes at the start for journaling and smaller tasks. And if the blogging goes quicker than planned... well, then there's always time at the end for smaller tasks as well!

Working with Parkinson's Law instead of Against It

It's helpful to me to know that this is what happens, all too frequently. I can then begin to work with it instead of bumping up against it all the time. I have a tendency to add buffer time to things because well... I like buffer time. I don't want to be bumping up against frantic deadlines all the time. So I tend to schedule deadlines farther into the future than is required.

A flip side to Parkinson's is this... I saw I need 60 minutes to write a blog. But I could actually write a blog in 30 minutes. It won't be perfect, it might not have a great image to go with it. I might not have time for a lot of background research. But I could do it. In a pinch. It would take more effort, more focus, more intensity, more energy. But it could be done. Maybe not today though... I only have 21 minutes before I have to leave and this blog has taken exactly 60 minutes!

Running on Empty: Writing Blogs with Zero Buffer

I had a 4 month buffer on this blog back in November. That's 16 weeks of posts... all scheduled and laid out... And I blew it. I'm now backed against the blog posting wall with no buffer... no posts in my backpocket and... I hate that!

The idea of having a nice fat buffer is... I can relax a bit. I don't have to write a blog every week. If I want to write 3 one week, and none for a few weeks, that works. There is a buffer... and the buffer can absorb the vagaries of my writing inspirations... or lack thereof. And a 4 month buffer is a very healthy buffer... but over the last few months, my attention has been elsewhere. And now the buffer is gone... weep for the little buffer... sigh...

No buffer means I feel the stress of getting a post written and published. No buffer means I have no wiggled room. No buffer means I question whether I even want to continue doing this.

Now... my partner will tell you that all of this stress, anguish and gnashing of teeth is self-imposed. There is no Blog God holding a gun to my head saying... "You must publish a blog every week or... else..." Seriously, there isn't... This blog doesn't even have a tonne of readers who will *gasp* abandon me if I skip a week or two.

But... and you knew there was a "but"... this blog isn't really for others... it's for me (mostly). A place where I can write an express ideas and wrestle with things and get my thoughts out of my head. If someone else benefits from it... bonus!

There is a sweet spot of writing for me... when I have a bunch of posts in the bag... I can write or not write on a particular day and I'm OK. I can focus my writing on other blogs (I have several) and other projects.

It's not that I lack for topics, I have reams and reams of ideas and many, many draft posts that need some polishing and tweaking and research. But the month of April (it is April 2 as I write this) is full. I have tax preparation as Priority #1 for the first two weeks. Oh, and Airbnb cleaning... And then 10 days of working the pulpmill shutdown as Hole Watch (now that is a whole other post!). And then a conference to attend at the end of the month. And there goes April... poof.

So I sit here and write what's front and centre and real. I could skip a post... I could. I've done that in the past. But from experience I know what happens when I skip one post... one turns into two... turns into three... then 10... then 50. Before you know it, a whole year has gone by and I wonder why I am bursting with ideas and no outlet for them.

There is something soothing, comforting, satisfying.. .cathartic? About writing these posts. So I do try to keep at least one post coming out every week. They might not be long. They might not be deep. But they are real and reflect my current state of grumbling anxious panic... "Who the heck let a 4 MONTH buffer slip away...?"

Because let me tell you... it is way easier to post one blog a week as part of a blog post maintenance program, thereby keeping a rolling 4 month buffer... than to try and come up with 4 blog posts in 1 week! The difference between sweeping and snow shoveling... maintenance is always easier than catch-up...

Grumble...

Beyond Deadlines: The Freedom Found in Writing with Buffers

Buffers. What the heck are buffers? Those things that polish floors and cars? Nope. Not those. The type of buffer I'm talking about is one that cushions, or protects, from shock.

Those tires that are attached to a boat dock buffer the boat from contacting the hard wood of the dock. I think those tires are called "bumpers"... and just like a car bumper (that cushions against the shock of a collision)... a bumper is a type of buffer.

But that's not the type of buffer I mean either.

Merriam-Webster has this as one of the definitions for buffer:

a means or device used as a cushion against the shock of fluctuations in business or financial activity

So, an emergency fund, or rainy day fund, is a buffer against the shock of some unexpected expense. Keeping an extra $1000 in your chequing account is a buffer against the fluctuation of those automatic payments/debits that come out at weird times of the month.

Or when you have a construction project... you build in a 10% contingency fund to cover the unexpected costs of the unexpected that is lurking behind the walls.

During Covid, there were several shocks to the system. Remember the toilet paper shortage? Or flour? Or yeast? Or masks and hand sanitizer? There was no buffer in the system for those increased demands... or at least not a big enough buffer. We did OK in the TP department though because we had a good buffer of toilet paper in our closet.

And... there's another type of buffer... at least for me... buffer time! 

Buffer Time

I first started building buffer time into my days when I lived in Vancouver. Let's say I had an appointment at 7:30 pm. I know that it's a 15 minute bus ride. The buses leave every 10 minutes: 7:00, 7:10 and 7:20 pm. Which bus would you take? I learned, through hard experience, that the buses (a) don't always run on time and (b) that some buses mysteriously drop out of the system and just don't show up. Sometimes it's a mechanical issue or the relief driver didn't show up on time or... gremlins stole the bus. So, for me... I would take the 6:50 pm bus. Maybe I'd arrive at 7:05 pm if everything went tickety-boo... but there also might be bus delays and traffic and... well... you get the picture.

After I left Vancouver, and no longer had to rely on buses, I still had this built-in buffer time mechanism and would show up ridiculously early for meetings. It was a 5 minute drive and I'd leave 30 minutes early. Old habits are hard to break.

Today, I still factor it in. We have an appointment at 2:30 pm. My partner asks me what time we have to  leave. It's usually a 10 minute drive, but it's a Friday afternoon, so traffic will be heavy on this one stretch, so let's call it 15 minutes. And then I know that my partner needs a bit more time to get out the door... so let's build in an extra 5 minutes of looking for things... and I'll say... "We have to leave at 2:10!" That's buffer time. And, on the odd occasion when my partner is ready on time... and the traffic is flowing fine... and all the green traffic lights align... we are there at 2:20 pm and my partner grumbles that we didn't have to leave so early! Ah yes... but some days it doesn't work that way!

And yes... when I have a flight to catch, I build in scads of buffer time! But then, I find it peaceful and restful to get checked-in and go through security and then sit on the other side and read a book or work on a blog or... whatever. My partner... not so much. We have to negotiate hard on how early we need to be at the airport for our flights!

But there's another facet of buffer time... which has nothing to do with appointments for flights.

Buffer Blogs

I try to post these blogs at least once a week. There isn't anyone standing over me demanding that I post these blogs regularly. Well... other than an internal "Me"! But if there is no expectation that a blog will be posted... then there is no incentive to write. And writing is good for me... hence the self-imposed expectation of one blog a week.

But this is what I've learned through years of blogging... things show up. Unexpectedly. Life goes sideways. There are trips and visitors... garden season in full swing... work gets super busy... several one night stays for the Airbnb requiring daily cleaning. Doesn't matter what it is... there is always "Something".

If I just post a blog in real time... week-to-week... there is zero buffer time. If life gets away from me... then the blog doesn't happen and, no, it's not the end of the world. But once one blog falls by the wayside... then maybe the following week does as well. And then I'm up against the wall. Forced to write a blog like... NOW! And inspiration doesn't always strike. When I'm under pressure, the ideas tend to dry up and... "ugh... I've let it go two weeks... I can let it go another week".

And that, my friends... is a sure-fire way for a blog to slide into a loonnngggg hiatus.

Buffering against a Hectic Life

A couple weeks ago, back in September (seeeeee!!!), I came to the realization that I need to make some hard choices in my schedule. I can't do everything. News flash, right? I was trying to write posts for three blogs... two were weekly and this blog was twice a week. But I realized there just weren't enough hours in the day.

Right now... as I write this on 10 October... I have blogs pre-scheduled into... February. That is quite a built-up buffer! The idea is, I can ease up on writing for this blog, and then focus on my other two blogs which currently have zero buffers. Even just a month of pre-scheduled blogs makes a huge difference...

But the problem is... this blog is the one where I can write most easily, off the cuff. My other two blogs... one requires considerable research and the other is often uncomfortable to write. So I default to this one here!

With such a huge buffer, I also begin to think... "maybe I should go back to twice a week..."... but then I give myself a shake and think... "No! Let's keep the buffer... and if we are writing in October... to publish in May... so be it!"

This also means that I rearrange blogs continuously. Because I'll get a bright idea for a pre-Christmas post and then have to shuffle all the pre-scheduled December blogs forward a week or two... I mean, it makes no sense to post something about recycling Christmas gift wrap in May! Right? Right.

So, if these blogs sometimes seem a bit... strange... it might be that I've rescheduled and not noticed that I have two sugar detox blogs within weeks of each other. Ooops... didn't mean to do that! One was written in March and kept getting pushed forward because of more timely posts... to that point that it almost overlaps with a sugar detox blog written in September. Ah well...

Don't Fritter away the Buffer

I am still learning not to blow the buffer. When you have a month of pre-scheduled blogs, it can be tempting to ease up on the gas pedal and turn to other things in life. But the weeks go by awfully fast and... if I'm not careful... I find myself facing a week with no blog scheduled. Like this week.

It is a Tuesday... a day on which I should be posting a DNA blog post. But do I have one scheduled? No. Do I have an idea of what I want to write about. No.

Same with my historical blog... I should have a post ready to go for tomorrow. But I do not. I have lots of ideas but they all require time to research and write.

The annoying thing is... I had a month of pre-posted DNA blogs just a few weeks ago. But then I got complacent and didn't write for a few weeks... and here we are with no buffer. I hate having no buffer.

It takes a LOT of effort to build a buffer for the DNA and historical blogs. A LOT. And it takes very little effort to coast and let those buffers evaporate.

I am going to have to take myself in hand and focus my writing on those two blogs and let this one sit for a few weeks. Which is hard because I have sooooo many ideas for this one! But writing isn't always about taking the easy route. Sometimes I have to take the more challenging route.

Because... confession time here... writing this blog post is a form of procrastination... I'm not writing the blogs I really need to be writing! Because this one is easier... and more fun... sigh.

And I'm curious. Do you buffer? Are there some buffer ideas that I'm missing??

Oh... and Buffer Time is "A Thing"... even in Star Trek! (You'll probably need to unmute it..."