3 Rules: From Understanding Parkinson’s Law To Getting You Closer To Financial Liberation
Written by: Daniel Richard
Understanding Parkinson’s Law To Getting You Closer To Financial Liberation – cc Syntopia
Ever heard of Parkinson’s Law?
~ Parkinson’s Law, published in The Economist in 1955
That’s the one.
It’s origins were from Cyril Northcote Parkinson’s observation of the British Civil Service, where the number of employees at the Colonial Office increased even though the importance of British overseas empire declined [Ref: Understand The Parkinson’s Law To Improve Efficiency]
In today’s work context, it means having to fill up the time we have to complete a task with irrelevant work (or “fluffs”), and eventually accomplishing it at the very last minute.
Based on that, let’s go into the 3 rules that we can get from understanding Parkinson’s Law on getting us closer to financial liberation.
Rule #1: Allow clear deadlines
Parkinson’s Law showed that when we are given with a period of time to accomplish something (eg: 2 months), we are most likely going to fill up the entire 1 month and 3 weeks with random work, or working for work sake, and leaving the last week for some panic attack to take over before finally finishing the task on the very last day.
Given the same task for another person while allowing the time to be extended to 3 months, the same thing will occur and results will only deliver on the last day of that entire period.
Here’s a suggestion (thanks Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
Question: Do you give yourself a clear deadline to achieving a financial goal?
Rule #2: Reaching financial goals requires discipline
When money comes in during pay day, it’s almost a certainty that there would be an immediate stream of cash flowing out from our hands.
An example would be a person carrying a brand new bag. And in relation to Parkinson’s Law, the huge space in the bag means that the person will make unnecessary (but not excluding important) purchases to just fill it up.
Let’s use the term lifestyle inflation as a perfect example. The more money that comes in (raise, bonuses, or cash value gifts), the more we would spend to get the experience of a short term lifestyle pleasure.
The increase in expenditure equals to a short change in reaching your financial goals.
Question: Are you disciplined in your cash flow – especially savings?
Rule #3: Focus = Financial Liberation (f=FL)
From the two rules mentioned above, it is obvious that we need to have focus to get to our financial liberation!
As long as we get the beginning of our journey right, achieving financial liberation would be much easier than expected. More so when we are still young!
In relation to Parkinson’s Law, we may have a lot of time to spare making a living, and that means that we too would have a lot of time to spend away our income – add lifestyle inflation into the equation and we won’t be near financial liberation.
Be focused and get the starting right!
Question: Have you been focused in your journey towards financial liberation?
Plan according to these rules and we are definitely getting closer to financial liberation. Noticed the questions at the end of each rule? Share your answers and thoughts in the comments!
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happinessisbetter
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Seamus Anthony
