Setting arbitrary deadlines for yourself is one of the most effective productivity tips to spark a sense of urgency.
Case in point: reading — and specifically, reading library books.
Building systems over goals
One of the things I’ve wanted to do more this year is to read more books — I don’t have a set goal to read per year, nor a set methodology in terms of reading books — and I accomplish this by trying to read 25 pages or read 25 minutes everyday.
This has been working out pretty well for me lately, as I’ve “accidentally” read 9 books so far (3 books/month), whereas in 2017 I read 13 books total.
Building systems over goals is incredibly powerful.
But on top of that, setting “arbitrary deadlines” lights a fire under you in another level.
A book loan lasts only 21 days
I recently discovered the Overdrive app, which lets you electronically check out books from your local library.
Once a book is available, you can check it out for 21 days, and then you have to return it.
I’ve always loved going to the library and checking out books, but somehow this is an extra dimension of a library “staple” rule that I hadn’t really appreciated until now. Of course you have to return a book to the library, right? You can’t keep it forever.
It’s self-imposing Parkinson’s law—work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion—on yourself, but an extra layer of constraints to encourage you to read more and not “fall off” the wagon.
Needless to say, books that become available to me via Overdrive have a higher priority in my reading queue than Kindle books I bought on my own—and offered some extra motivation for me to keep reading every day 😉
Other use cases in life
In terms of setting up systems and leveraging Parkinson’s law — if you can “hack” and design your own environments for success, you’ll be surprised at how much you can accomplish.
How can you apply this in other areas in life, aside from reading?
I’ve found that putting your money where your mouth is—or where your values and priorities are, rather—is very effective. That is, this should be reflected on both your calendar and your bank statement.
Find a trifecta of forces and leverage human psychology to “box” your willpower in order to succed.
One example: want to get more fit and work out regularly? (read: not necessarily hit a specific milestone, per se)
Buy a SF Barry’s Star (12 classes in 30 days) class pack for $336 from Barry’s Bootcamp.
Let’s break it down:
- Building systems inside this goal – go to Barry’s 3x a week, same time and place on MWF
- Spreading this out over 30 days helps to set the foundation for building habits and stability
- By extension, for maximal engagement and optimal performance, it necessitates clean eating and sleeping well (no eating junk food, sleeping late, or drinking often) – benefits of which extend beyond the 30 days
- Paying $336 is quite expensive – exploits loss aversion principle in cognitive psychology
- You have to finish 12 classes in 30 days – time-boxes this per Parkinson’s law, as opposed to having 1 year to finish 12 classes
- You don’t have to design your own program – qualified fitness instructors will walk you through the workouts, you just have to put in the time and do what they say
Even better, get an accountability partner or a group together to do a challenge (incidentally, Barry’s recently did a similar “Face Yourself” challenge)–to maximize chances of success (social accountability, etc).
And even further, get a DXA scan to measure your weight and body fat before and after the 30 days—as they say, what gets measured, gets managed.
With all of the above, how could you not succeed?
Of course, I want to add a disclaimer that Barry’s Bootcamp is not for the faint of heart and certainly do not encourage it for everyone.
And this is assuming you already have a built-in “system” for working out regularly, as this kind of exercise (ha, pun intended) is not sustainable on an ongoing basis, at least for most people.
You don’t want to spend all this money and time and put in all the hard work for 30 days and then completely drop off. Remember: systems over goals.
–
This was one of the quickest and clearest examples I could see in terms of leveraging arbitrary deadlines and Parkinson’s law to your advantage, as well as cognitive and behavioral psychology principles:
- Systems over goals (e.g., habit of going 3x/week rather than sprinting 12 mph for 5 minutes)
- Arbitrary deadlines (“expiration dates”) and Parkinson’s law
- Money and loss aversion principle
- Social accountability
What are some other ideas you can come up with? Where else in life can you “design” your success?