Day 57 Quote 11: Parkinson’s Law

Parkinson’s Law: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

– C. Northcote Parkinson

This reminds me of a scene from the previous Miss Universe when they asked one of the contestants the difference between a man and a woman. She said that you can both tell them to go from point A to point B. But, how they do it is completely up to them. Men will create a straight line from A to B. Women will create a curvy line from A to B. Their journeys may be different or the way they approach things may be different; but, in the end, they still get to where they have to go.

Setting gender aside, it’s the same for us. We can be given the same task but it all depends on us how we will proceed with that task. We can start early and finish early, we can still start early and finish late, we can start late and still finish on time, or we can start late and finish late…there list goes on and on.

We can expand our work horizontally (procrastinate) if we’re given ample time.

We can also expand our work vertically (be more ambitious) if we’re given ample time.

The thing is, we tend to adjust our work given what we have and what we do with what we have – we can expand it horizontally or vertically. That’s up to us to decide and to execute.