Time is a weird thing, isn’t it? There are moments when it races by, with minutes gone in a blur, then others when the clock hands seem unbearably slow. We can flip so quickly between the two, often feeling like we have hours to fill, and then being rushed off our feet, unable to do everything on an ever-growing to-do list in a day that’s gone in a flash. 

The complexity of time can make it difficult to manage. After all, none of us can control time, and that can make us feel, well… out of control. It often seems like we’re at the mercy of time, that it’s working against us. New research by Stylist, powered by our new insight agency Think Stylist, found that 87% of women feel the pressure of time. 

It helps to know that we’re not alone in feeling this way, and also to acknowledge that we’re not failures simply for being unable to slow the clock. But what can also be useful is getting a better understanding of how time can work, and how to make it work for us. 

And this is where a concept called Parkinson’s law can be useful. 

“In practice, this means we take as long over a task as the time we’ve given to it… or the time that’s available. If we’ve allocated two hours, the task will take two hours. If you have a whole day to complete one task, that’s how long it’ll take.”

Once you learn of Parkinson’s law, you’ll notice it everywhere. For example, a meeting that probably could have taken 15 minutes lasts the entire hour for which the meeting room was booked. You don’t have a deadline for one task, so it ends up taking you hours spread across the whole week. Another task that’s just as challenging needs to be ticked off by lunchtime, so you bash it out in 20 minutes. 

Wait, you might be thinking, this doesn’t make sense. A task takes as long as it takes. Why would that change depending on what you write down on your schedule?

“Work expands to fill the time allotted,” explains Ellen Faye, a productivity coach and author of Productivity For How You’re Wired. “It happens because people don’t give thought to the value of their time and then they don’t assess how much time the task they are working on is worthy of. 

“Another principle – the Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 rule) – comes into play here. Pareto’s principle implies that you get 80% of the results with 20% of the time or effort. That can be interpreted that you can get to 80% (above average, if we were grading this) with 20% of the time. I see this often: you can put in an hour and get to very good, but to get to excellent/100%/almost perfect (since perfect isn’t a thing) it takes five hours.

“We’re not good at or don’t estimate the amount of time needed for a particular task,” Evans adds. “We don’t always limit the time a task will take; instead, we work on it until it’s complete. It also happens when we’re not prioritising the importance of a task and allocating an appropriate amount of time, spending too long on trivial tasks or believing we have more time available than we really do. 

“If you have unlimited time or a significant amount of time to complete a task, you’ll either put off working on the task, because you have plenty of time, or you lose focus and get distracted by other random tasks, which means the task takes longer. It also happens the other way around. We think something will take 10 minutes and it actually takes 30. Allocate a day and we end up needing two.”

Parkinson’s law can be a frustrating phenomenon. But if you’re aware of the concept and work with it, it could be beneficial. Here’s how to use it wisely. 

Work out how long a task will take 

How long does it really take you to reply to an email or to sort out that Excel spreadsheet? You might never have given it much thought. “Start by estimating how long you think a task will take,” Evans recommends. “Even if it’s a best guess based on previous experience. Break it down into sub-tasks to give you a better idea. Often a task might seem straightforward but when you consider all the steps involved it’s not.”

If you really have no idea, time-tracking (timing activities and noting down the time each takes) can be a helpful place to start. 

Ask how much time the task is worth

On that note, you’ll need to decide how much time you want to spend on this task. Faye says: “At the start of working on a task, pause and ask yourself: just how much time is this task worth giving? Set your timer for 15 minutes before that endpoint. You can then decide if you’re going to push and complete it or if it is truly worthy of more time.”

Drafting that email could take you an hour, but equally, if you’re honest with yourself, you could do it in 10 minutes. Is it important enough for an hour of your time? 

“Consider the priority of each task,” adds Evans. “It’s a waste of time and inefficient to spend too much time on a trivial task when you could spend that time on something more important.”

Allocate specific time periods to tasks

You can take a granular approach, like time-blocking, which sees you noting down how you’re spending every moment of your day in 30-minute (or even 15-minute) blocks. Or you can do a more relaxed take and simply decide that you’re going to clean up the kitchen between 10–11am on Saturday. Be as detailed as you like – the point is the very act of having a schedule with specific amounts of time dedicated to whatever you need to get done. No more free-wheeling. 

“Allocate specific blocks of time to tasks, so it’s easier to see how much you can fit into any given time,” Evans advises. “Knowing you only have a set amount of time helps focus the mind and stops you from getting distracted.”

Set time limits (and consider using an alarm)

Evans recommends: “Set time limits. Use the pomodoro technique or just a timer to limit the time spent on tasks and to stop more time being spent than needed or justified.”

Make sure you stick to those limits. It can be helpful to have a timer go off and signal that one task is done and you have to move on to the next thing. Don’t dilly-dally or hit snooze. 

This article is part of Generation Tick Tock, a series exploring our complex relationship with time. You can read the full series here. 

Images: Getty; Stylist