Embracing Parkinson's Law Archives

How Parkinson’s Law Will Make You Insanely Organized

This post is part 1 in the series Embracing Parkinson's Law.

This week, we’re wrapping up our series on improving your everyday life with Parkinson’s Law!

So far, we’ve looked at this important idea in its original format: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

And we’ve looked at a twist in relation to your money: “Your lifestyle expenses increase so as to use up the income available.”

Today, we’ll tackle one more twist on Parkinson’s Law as it relates to getting organized: “Your stuff expands so as to use up the space available.”

Yeah, this one is so true!

When I moved out of my tiny graduate school apartment, I loaded up all of my belongings into my little sedan. Seven years later, it was a whole different story! When my husband and I moved from our townhouse rental into our current home, it took a medium-sized U-Haul and a truck with movers to wrangle the big stuff.

Our stuff had expanded.

So how can you keep your belongings from multiplying like Tribbles? Growing into piles, seeping into tidy areas, and taking over your home? [Read more…]

How Parkinson’s Law Will Make You Insanely Good with Money

This post is part 2 in the series Embracing Parkinson's Law.

Last week, we took a look at Parkinson’s Law, which states that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” So it makes perfect sense that last week’s post was all about time-saving techniques and maximizing your productivity.

But have you thought about how Parkinson’s Law applies to your money?

Maybe we could rewrite it like this: “Your lifestyle expenses increase so as to use up the income available.”

I’m talking here about the dreaded “lifestyle creep!” Here’s what I mean:

Let’s say you get a bump in your income. Maybe you get a juicy raise, land a sweet bonus, or start a profitable side business.

Then you upgrade your lifestyle! You spring for a nice vacation, move to a pricier home, start buying fancier clothes, or begin eating out more.

At the end of the day, that extra income has been completely consumed by the new expenses you’ve created for yourself. Your lifestyle expenses have increased and used up all of the available income you have.

So how can your understanding of this twist on Parkinson’s Law make you a money-saving whiz? [Read more…]

How Parkinson’s Law Will Make You Insanely Productive

This post is part 3 in the series Embracing Parkinson's Law.

Back in April, my husband and I did something rather significantly out of character. We planned a weekend trip for our family in one afternoon.

Now, when it comes to vacations, we’re usually big planners! We weigh our destination options, flip through hotel reviews, make spreadsheets of possible activities . . . it’s a job unto itself.

But, in a single afternoon, we planned from start to finish an overnight trip for our family. We booked a hotel, purchased tickets to a theme park, found some good places to eat, and more. We packed up that evening and headed out the very next day with our slightly confused but enthusiastic two-year-old.

And it was fun!

The success of our little last-minute adventure is a perfect illustration of a fascinating concept known as Parkinson’s Law.

In a 1955 essay published in The Economist, author Cyril Northcote Parkinson described what is now famously referred to as Parkinson’s Law. It states that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

Take that in for a second.

Parkinson’s Law contends that the more time you have to accomplish something, the longer it will take. If we had a month to plan that spontaneous trip of ours, you bet that it would have taken us that long.

So . . . how can you use Parkinson’s Law to your advantage in becoming insanely productive? [Read more…]