Let me rewind you back to your school days, like early primary days where you were given "summer holiday assignments" I was given cursive writing for handwriting practice which i hardly did by the way. But what ever was given to us as work that is to be completed within the next one or two months, majority of us don't start it the day one.
There might be some who plan on finishing the most unpleasant tasks first like Brian Tracy says in the title of his famous book "Eat the Frog" and finish it with making up their mind that they can enjoy the rest of the vacation to the fullest If that work is done at the earliest. That's one strategy that worked well those days because we didn't have much tasks to organize and more importantly the necessity to learn about productivity.
But as we grow up, we start to do new things and setting a goal or deadline becomes very crucial to enjoy being productive. Now let's come back to the summer vacation talk, basically how i did it and how most of them claim to have did it goes like this.We start with no intention but a thought in mind that if we start early, we'd finish early. That was logical and true but that was not a productive mindset.
We basically felt we've had lots of time to hurry up to finish the work. And as we start enjoying the vacation we forget about it totally and get reminded of it the week the vacation is about to end if you are lucky enough and i remember having heard from people who pulled one or two all-nighters.
And if you are someone who isn't from a strict schooling background which made you comfortably stand up telling that you haven't done the homework,you might feel this isn't for you but it is for you too so please do continue reading this.
If you notice, the dudes who finished stress free using up the entire vacation, chunking down the work did complete it,So as the one who started it a week before,So as the one's who pulled all-nighters and also the exceptional ones who finished the task in their first week of summer vacation.
This isn't a talk about the capability of one's work (That is why I took the cursive handwriting task as an example to explain the concept) it's about the deadline they set. So the basic element of any goal setting is the time frame in which you desire to attain it. When that is set, everything is set and you function that way.This is the Parkinson's law concept.
Parkinson's law
So basically Parkinson's law says " Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
This means if you decide to finish something that can be done in 5 days to be done in 15 days, it will take you 15 days.
Now don't think you can decide to finish it on one day. You'd be a lot stressed. And stress lowers the immunity levels. Always remember, Productivity is self investment but not at the compromise of health.
Stay safe and wash hands regularly.