Parkinson's Law & Procrastination

In continuation with my previous entry relating to procrastination, here is an interesting observation that was actually described mathematically by the British author Cyril Northcote Parkinson:

"The demand upon a resource tends to expand to match the supply of the resource"

(The reverse is not true!)

When it comes to procrastination and time management, it means that the more time one has on his or her hands, the longer it will take to complete the task. It does not necessarily mean that spending more time on the job improved the quality! Everyone must have experienced this sometime or another- when we have lots to do in a short time, we stay focused better.

However, there is a catch for ones struggling with procrastination. Procrastinators usually unrealistic sense of time. In other words, the amount of time a task will take is unrealistically estimated. Therefore, it is important not to take-on too much on one's plate and feel overwhelmed. Doing this will feed the cycle that will cause procrastination, rather than help.

So, a safe estimation of time a task might take and working with the optimum number of tasks will be a good idea to play with.