Do you ever feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything you need to?
Maybe you find yourself sacrificing important parts of your life – like health, fitness, and relationships – due to the high demands of your work.
If so, there is a good chance you’ve fallen victim to what is known as Parkinson’s Law.
Parkinson’s Law
Parkinson’s Law is a principle that states “work expands to consume the resources available for its completion.”
The term was coined by Cyril Northcote Parkinson, a British naval historian and author, in an article published in The Economist in 1955. It later became the centerpiece of his book, Parkinson’s Law: The Pursuit of Progress.
Parkinson observed that as an organization grows, there will be an increase in the number of employees, regardless of the amount of work to be done. This increase in staff leads to a growth in bureaucracy and inefficiency. He used examples from the British Civil Service to illustrate how the number of employees increased even as the British Empire declined, showing that the amount of work was not the driving factor in the size of the organization.
Parkinson’s Law Today
While Parkinson’s Law can be applied to contexts like the post-colonial British Civil Service, it can also be applied to a wide array of contemporary contexts that are highly relevant to entrepreneurs. Here are just a few examples.
- Regarding Time: If you give yourself a week to complete a two-hour task, the task will likely consume all the time allotted to it. It may not even fill the extra time with more work but merely add more stress and tension about having to get it done.
- Regarding Resources: Just as work expands to fill the time available for its completion, it can also expand to use up other resources available. That could mean the overuse of cognitive horsepower, emotional energy, or physical vitality – all of which could be better distributed to cover other important tasks or roles.
- Regarding Complexity: If you allocate more time or resources than required to complete a task, its complexity increases, often unnecessarily. This can result in the overcomplication of tasks that could be completed more simply and efficiently.
- Regarding Scalability: As an organization grows, so does its administrative overhead, often at a faster rate than the growth in its productive output. This can lead to inefficiencies and higher operating costs that don’t contribute proportionally to the organization’s productivity.
- Regarding Decision-Making: The more time and people involved in making a decision, the more complex and drawn-out the process can become, even if the decision itself is relatively straightforward. This can lead to inefficiencies and delays in organizational progress.
- Regarding Work Culture: When more time is allocated to complete work in an organization, there can be a perceived need to fill that time with work, regardless of the actual time it requires. This can lead to a culture of busywork, where employees are more focused on appearing busy than on achieving actual results.
Mitigating Parkinson’s Law
Parkinson’s Law is arguably most relevant today in how we allocate our time between work and life’s other demands. This is particularly challenging for entrepreneurs who are not bound to a 9-5 work schedule but have the autonomy to devote as much or little of their time to work as they choose.
This lack of constraints, combined with high demands and a need to move fast, puts entrepreneurs in a precarious position where work can encroach deeper and deeper into the entrepreneur’s schedule until little or no time remains for other tasks or activities. This is why entrepreneurs are at a high risk of burnout, other unhealthy work-life patterns, or destructive coping mechanisms.
To combat the deleterious forces of Parkinson’s Law, several common practices are most often recommended:
- Setting Clear, Realistic Deadlines: Break down tasks into smaller, manageable parts and set strict but achievable deadlines for each part.
- Using Time Constraints Wisely: Implement strategies such as the Pomodoro Technique (25 minutes of work followed by a 5-minute break) to maintain focus and prevent burnout.
- Prioritizing Tasks: Use methods like the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize tasks based on their urgency and importance.
- Limiting Meetings and Communications: Ask yourself if a meeting is necessary or if an issue can be resolved more efficiently through other means.
- Setting SMART Goals: Clearly define what success looks like for each task or project.
- Learning to Say No: Decline additional tasks or responsibilities to ensure you can complete your current workload effectively.
- Using Technology and Tools: Leverage productivity tools and software that can help streamline your tasks and keep you organized.
- Delegating Effectively: If you have the option, delegate tasks to others.
- Embracing Minimalism in Work: Focus on what’s truly essential and avoid perfectionism where it’s not required.
How I Succumbed to Parkinson’s Law
While the common recommendations for mitigating Parkinson’s Law are all valid approaches, they’re quite broad and therefore not that simple to turn into action. I learned this firsthand when I was building my first venture-backed company.
Like many other purpose-driven founders, I poured every ounce of myself into my venture, inspired by a combination of a cultural Protestant work ethic and an endless barrage of hustle porn narratives from popular media reminding me that I needed to be the hardest working person in the room, or that there was someone out there working longer and harder than me. So naturally, I decided that there might be someone out there who could outsmart me. But there was no way in hell anyone was going to outwork me!
For the next 3.5 years, I worked 16-hour days, 7 days a week. I gained 20kg, picked up a cigarette smoking habit, and experienced a precipitous decline in my health, well-being, relationships, and eventually, work performance. In the end, I catastrophically burned out.
Introducing the Walled Garden Method
In the years following my burnout and eventual exit, and after much reflection and learning, I decided I was ready to get back in the proverbial founder saddle. But I was fraught with fear that I could end up in the same cycle of overwork that had done a number on me a few years prior.
That’s why I decided to create a time management system that could keep me from falling back into the same overwork trap again. I needed a system that was both robust and actionable while suiting my daily experiences as a busy entrepreneur and business leader. I now call this my Walled Garden Method.
This approach to combating Parkinson’s Law is based on one fundamental premise: work-life balance is bullshit.
Work-life balance infers that we’re seeking a balance between two key demands placed upon us – work and life. But is it right to place these two demands on equal footing? I believe that it’s not. Because I don’t want a life where the value of my work is as important as everything else outside of it, combined.
Caveat: This Walled Garden Method can be highly effective for those of us who are self-employed or in top leadership positions with a great deal of autonomy. But if you’re an employee or if other people can dictate your schedule, then this method might be more difficult to implement.
The Walled Garden’s Principles
The Walled Garden Method is based on six core principles.
- Work-Life balance is bullshit.
- Know all your roles and responsibilities, especially those outside of work.
- Leverage technology, not for productivity, but for self-accountability.
- If work will expand to fill the time allocated, begin by reducing said time.
- Stay flexible to allow for perturbation and change.
- Never abandon. Only postpone.
The Walled Garden Playbook
Here’s how it works. To paint a more vivid picture, I used my normal weekly schedule for context.
Step One: Take Stock
Start by taking stock of your identity, not your occupation or career path, but what makes you the unique, whole individual you are. That means defining your mandatory responsibilities, those that you desire, and most importantly, those that give your life purpose and meaning. Do not add work into the equation yet!
For context, here is how I define my responsibilities (keeping in mind that I share duties with my wife).
- Mandatory: sleeping, eating, bathing, child-rearing, financial management, exercise
- Meaning: daddy-daughter time; wifey time, family visits, time with friends, alone time for reflection
- Desired: outdoor sports, playing guitar, leisure reading
Step Two: Systematize
Now that you have taken stock of all your responsibilities, it’s time to set up the systems you need to create your walled garden. While there’s a myriad of tools out there designed to maximize your productivity and efficiency (of which I use a few), I find that keeping my scheduling tools simple works best. I only use two apps: a calendar (iCal) and a scheduling tool (Calendly). And since I wear a lot of different hats, I ensure both apps are linked to all my work and personal email addresses.
Step Three: Build Your Wall!
Time to start encircling your garden! Here’s how I organize my schedule from Monday through Friday, which prioritizes my mandatory or meaning responsibilities.
05:45-06:15: Wake Up
The first block I create is my wake-up time. I allocate 30 minutes for this, which allows me to never set an alarm clock and instead rely on my circadian rhythms (mornings are way more pleasant without an alarm clock).
06:15-07:15: Deep Work 1
This is my magic hour, before my family wakes up, when I do some of my best work. I use this time to work on my most creative tasks, as my brain is just rolling out of a sleep state (theta brain waves), which is conducive to immersive, creative pursuits.
07:15-08:00: Coffee & Family Time
Yes, I wait 90 minutes before I have my first cup of coffee. There’s some pretty good science to support this (which I’ll save for another newsletter). But this time is dedicated to starting the day the way I love most, by being present with the two most important people in my life, my wife and daughter. It doesn’t matter what I do during this time as long as my full attention is on these two amazing ladies.
08:00-08:45: Walk to Gym
Now you might be saying, who the hell walks 45 minutes to the gym every morning? But don’t mistake this as wasted time. I often schedule phone calls for this walk. This allows me to complete some important work first thing in the morning, while still ensuring I am getting fresh air and movement while I’m doing it. If I don’t have calls, I’ll listen to an audiobook or podcast.
08:45-09:45: Workout
My gym sessions are a non-negotiable for me. They give me so much energy, vitality, and joy that I easily make up for the lost work time with greater productivity and focus throughout the day. I often listen to podcasts while I work out. But sometimes I just listen to uplifting music to fuel my workouts and inspire positivity in my day.
09:45-10:30: Walk Home
Like my walk to the gym, I walk home either taking phone calls or listening to educational content in an audiobook or podcast. Once I’m home at 10:30, I’ve already hit my 10,000-step goal, spent 90 minutes outdoors, got an hour-long workout in, and maybe had a few calls with clients or teammates – all on top of the hour of focused work that kicked off my day.
10:30-11:00: Shower & Coffee
I rarely eat breakfast and I don’t always shower, but I never skip the chance to have another cup of coffee!
11:00-12:30: Deep Work 2
This is my second round of deeply focused, uninterrupted work. That means no meetings, phone calls, or scrolling my phone. This time is exclusively dedicated to accomplishing my goals for the day and nothing else.
12:30-13:00: Meal 1
Time for my first meal of the day. Pro tip: I try to keep carbohydrate intake to a minimum for this meal. I find that carb-heavy meals make me lethargic and tired. So, I stick with high-protein, high-fat to fuel my body and brain without the mid-day crash that can come from starch-heavy meals.
13:00-14:30: Deep Work 3
This is my third and final round of deeply focused, uninterrupted work. By the time this block is done, I’ve had four high-leverage hours of deep work. A lot of people don’t accomplish that in a full day, but I’ve done it by early afternoon.
14:30-19:00: Open Schedule / Flex Time
If you ever want to schedule time to speak with me, this is the window of opportunity you’ll be presented. My Calendly only offers time slots within this block because this is my time for meetings, calls, and other collaborative work. The contents of this block vary from day to day, and although it often fills up completely with meetings, I usually get a few windows of opportunity to have a snack, play with my daughter, pay some bills, run to the market, or just step outside for some fresh air.
19:00-22:00: Dinner & Family Time
This is the time that gives me the most meaning and purpose. Usually, it’s spent with my wife and daughter, having dinner and hanging out. Sometimes it includes extended family or friends. But unless something is on fire, this time is non-negotiably devoted to the people I love.
22:00-22:30: Bedtime Routine/Lights Out
This is my routine to wrap up the day – usually just standard personal hygiene and some breathing exercises – before lights out.
Of course, there are no hard and fast rules on how you build your walled garden. We all have different priorities, responsibilities, and constraints. But the point of sharing mine is to help you understand the depth of detail and structure required – and how most important life responsibilities can be accounted for.
P.S. – Weekends are mine. Full stop. Unless something is on fire.
Step Four: Get Flexy
This part is quite easy to explain. Each day from 14:30-19:00 is my time for meetings and other collaborative work activities. Usually, I know within a day or two how that time will be allotted. On days when I have free time of an hour or more, I’ll block it off as “Flex Time”.
Flex time allows me to complete work I couldn’t finish earlier in the day, providing a margin for error that enables me to get caught up when I need to. And by allotting myself this time, I don’t need to give up other precious non-work time to do so.
Step Five: Jenga!
The wise man, Mike Tyson, once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Sometimes shit happens and I need to be able to respond to the unforeseen. So instead of being myopically focused on adhering to my schedule blocks, I simply move some of them around. The system won’t break when it’s not perfectly adhered to.
For example, this week we have an appointment with our pediatrician in the late morning. But instead of sacrificing something important to me like exercise, I just move my blocks around like a game of Jenga, moving them to the next available flex time or open space. My only hard rule is I can’t delete the block. I can only move it somewhere else, and it doesn’t even have to be on the same day.
In Summary
So, there it is, my Walled Garden Method. Yes, reading this may have stolen 10 minutes of your life that you’ll never get back. But maybe, just maybe, you were able to learn something beyond the details of my mundane weekday life.
Perhaps you learned how prioritizing life over work can not only be a healthier way to live but a more productive one as well. Or perhaps you learned that if you manage your schedule effectively, you will likely be able to get more shit done, more efficiently, with more fulfillment and joy than you previously thought possible.
But remember, this isn’t a template to copy. It’s merely a framework created by an ordinary guy with an ordinary life who’s just trying to fight the good fight against the specter of old Cyril Northcote Parkinson and his cursed life-stealing law.
Thanks for reading.
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