Too Many Tasks and Not Enough Time? Listen to This

When you are heading off on vacation, two things are bound to happen.

First, the moment you prepare to leave, you will get an influx of files  that will make it harder to totally unplug while away (but with a good team and good systems in place, that’s not such a bad thing).

The second thing that will happen as your departure date approaches is that you’ll become increasingly more productive. You become an upgraded version of yourself, as though a productivity chip has been installed in your brain.

If you’re like me, you’ll also feel alive, invigorated, and as though you can take on the world (Imagine what could happen if you showed up like that every day!).

This is exactly what happens when I have a hard deadline, like an upcoming vacation, in place. I start crushing my emails and knocking things off my to-do list that have been there since junior high. 

I believe this surge in productivity is related to something called Parkinson’s Law. Parkinson’s Law states that a task will expand to fill the time you have available. 

So the more time you give yourself to get something done, the more time you will use. 

One way I counter this in my business day is to time any tasks that I do frequently.

For instance, each week, I track how long it takes me to write the draft of this email. I then send it to my amazing editor, Diana, who cleans it up so my team can send it out on Sunday morning.  

On average, I complete these email drafts in about 22 minutes. If I didn’t time myself, I could easily spend up to an hour searching for just the right word or phrase.

This has really increased my productivity. It is just one of seven tactics that I share on last week's 12-minute tactical podcast. 

→ Too Many Tasks and Not Enough Time? Listen To This

These tactics work, and using them can make you more productive.