#162 | Why you never have enough time or money and how to fix it

August 15, 2022

Episode Summary:

 

In this episode, we talk about why we never have enough time or money and how to leverage Parkinson’s law to fix that. We start by explaining Parkinson’s law, the adage that work will expand to fill the allotted time. We dig into what we can learn from Parkinson’s law to improve how we manage our time. Then we switch over to applying Parkinson’s law to our money, and how we can take those learnings to improve how we manage our money. 

Episode Notes:

 

We kick off this episode by reading some listener comments and questions and addressing some quick thoughts on long-term care insurance. Then, Maggie shares some recent observations on time as she’s transitioning into her new early retirement life. 

 

What is Parkinson’s law?

  • Parkinson’s law is the adage that work will expand to fill the time allotted for its completion. Or said another way, the more time you allow for a task, the less effort you will put into it. If we give ourselves an entire week to complete a task, then the task will increase in complexity and fill that entire week. The task itself might be able to be completed in 30 minutes or 2 hours, but we will spend time stressing about it or worrying about how we’ll get it done. Then we’ll just likely wait until the last minute to get it done anyways. So the extra time we might allow ourselves to do a task isn’t necessarily filled with the work needed to do the task or improve the quality of our work. 
  • If you’re familiar with procrastination, which we think we all are, then you’re already familiar with Parkinson’s law; you just maybe didn’t know the term. 
  • Research suggests that when given a task we consider how much time is available to do it versus how much time we need to complete it. So our mindset shifts us to take as much time as we have versus as much time as we truly need. 

 

What can we learn from Parkinson’s law with our TIME?

  • Recognize that the goal posts are always moving, either by you or by others for you. Getting more done won’t make you feel on top of it.
  • Set shorter deadlines. You will worry and stress less and get creative with better ways to do things. Yes, it’s a self-imposed deadline but set it and respect it, and it can do wonders to keep you focused. 
  • Time-box your work. You could use something like the Pomodoro technique, which is effective for many people. This method breaks down your work time into 25-minute chunks with 5-minute breaks in between. You can use this approach to put time limits on various work and activities and create more focus. Be realistic. 
  • Work smarter, not harder. Be judicious and selective about where your time goes.
  • Save the new time you’ve gained for what matters to you. If something took you 2 hours and you found a way to do it in 1, don’t then double your output and return to 2 hours. Keep that time free.
  • Remember YOU control your time, and in theory, you have 100% control over it. Yes, things will come up you can’t anticipate. But you choose how to respond. You choose if you watch TV or if you do something else. You choose how effectively you spend at least some of your time at work. 
  • Understand this concept. A deadline won’t increase productivity, but understanding and accepting the idea of Parkinson’s law and adjusting our habits and work practices can. 

 

How can we apply Parkinson’s law to FIRE?

  • 5am Joel, who we’ve had on the podcast a couple of times, even leverages Parkinson’s law to think about the length of our careers. In an excellent article he writes he says, “Careers are supposed to be 40 years long, so we allow them to be 40 years long. If we truly believe that time is 100% within our control, we can choose how long we want our career to be.”  We love this!

 

How can we apply Parkinson’s law to money?

  • The same principle applied to money would be: your spending will expand to fill the amount of money you have available. 
  • If we have more money, we’re more likely to spend it. It’s akin to lifestyle inflation or keeping up with the Joneses. It’s a lot easier to keep up with Jonese’s if you technically have that amount of money available. 

 

How can we apply Parkinson’s law to improve our finances?

    • First off, when you have less time, you spend more money to outsource work or create efficiencies. So if you get better with time, you 100% will get better with money.
    • When you constrict the amount of money you have, just like time, you will realize you can get by on so much less and still be happy. 
    • Hide your money from yourself. Put it into your 401k, your IRA, your brokerage account, or real estate.  
    • Avoid lifestyle inflation. We did a whole recent episode on this, and we talk about it often. Don’t move the goal posts for what you think makes you happy. If you are always wanting something more you will never be happy.
    • Set a budget and stick to it. This could be budget categories or an overall spending target for the year. Pretend you have less than you do. It works for us. 
    • Practice delayed gratification. Eventually, you can spend money on something, but first, you have to pay yourself, be within your budget, and all of the things we discussed.

    Top 3 takeaways:

    1. Understanding Parkinson’s law will add value to your life. No one is immune to it until you find your ways to overcome it. 
    2. It applies to your time and money.
    3. Consider what you can do to commit to overcoming Parkinson’s law with your time and money, and start forming those habits!

     

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