It’s a well known fact that tasks will expand to fill the time allocated to them. In other words, if you’ve got a week to do something, it’s probably going to take you a week to do it, regardless of whether or not it could be done in two days.
Even the most organised among us tend to procrastinate and leave things till the last minute. The question is, are there any ways to bring time back under your control so you can finish urgent pieces of work without the pressure of a looming deadline?
Luckily for you, the answer to that question is yes. There is a very simple way to get things done quicker without the mad rush at the end. That way is something I call the -10% rule.
The basic premise of the -10& rule is that you artificially shorten the amount of time you allocate to a task or activity by 10%, and then redistribute each ‘mini task’ to correspond with the shortened time.
This is a technique I’ve been using for years to make sure I get projects done on time, with a little extra breathing room. As someone who loves sleep and video games, but who also has a PhD, knowing how to balance priorities is hugely important and usually just comes down to how you allocate your time. Let me show you how to use the rule for yourself, using the example of a random scenario that I just made up.
Scenario: It’s Monday morning. Your boss has asked you to prepare a client presentation for the beginning of next week. You want to make sure that you don’t work over the weekend as you already have plans. How do you make sure you get everything done by Friday?
Let’s pretend that this is the only piece of work you have for the week, and nothing else has been scheduled ahead of time. Now we have the scenario, the first step is to break down exactly the amount of time you have to complete it. This step has to be pretty precise for it to work, so I suggest using a calculator.
If you work 9-6pm Monday-Friday, then in total you technically have 9 hours a day, minus 1 ½ hours for lunch and other breaks. 7 ½ hours x 5 days = 37.5 hours. Next, you take away 10% of the total time (3.8 hours, but we’ll make it an even 4), and that leaves you with 33 hours and 30 minutes to get it done. Let’s add a little pressure and make that 33 hours.
The second step is to break the task down into subtasks. What exactly do you have to do to get the job done? For this scenario, it may look something like this:
- Read client briefing and highlight key requirements
- Research what the client has done recently
- Research client competitors to see what they have done recently
- Liaise with client contact to make sure you know exactly what they want from the presentation
- Draft up key presentation points
- Meet with manager to finalise points
- Draft presentation
- Send presentation to manager to check for errors/consistency/accuracy
- Make final changes to presentation wording
- Make presentation attractive (or get someone else to do it)
The purpose of this rule is to factor in contingencies and other things you may not have planned for, such as last minute meetings, answering emails, helping colleagues with their work, training courses, working lunches, etc. You’ll know better than anyone else which tasks take the most time and what you’re quick at doing vs what will slow you down. This is just an example, but in the end your schedule may end up looking something like this:
|
Day |
Task |
Number of hours |
|
Monday |
Read client briefing and highlight key requirements |
2 |
|
Research what the client has done recently |
3 |
|
|
Research client competitors to see what they have done recently |
3 |
|
|
Tuesday |
Research client competitors to see what they have done recently (cont.) |
2 |
|
Liaise with client contact to make sure you know exactly what they want from you |
2 |
|
|
Draft Key Presentation points |
3 |
|
|
Meet with manager to finalise key points |
1 |
|
|
Redraft points according to meeting and start drafting presentation |
5 |
|
|
Thursday |
Continue drafting presentation and send to manager |
3 |
|
Meet with manager to discuss necessary changes |
1 |
|
|
Friday |
Make final changes to presentation |
3 |
|
Make presentation attractive (or get someone else to do it who’s good at that sort of thing) |
5 |
|
|
Total |
33 |
While you shouldn’t time how long it takes you to do each task (see our other article on why timing your tasks doesn’t work), you should definitely refer to your calculations every now and again to make sure you’re on track and not falling too far behind.
Of course, if you have other pieces of work to do, you will have to figure it into the maths instead of allocating all of your time to a single task! But in general the rule stands, especially if you have something urgent to get done that takes precedence over everything else.
This technique is particularly handy for long term projects that will last for 6 months or more. In a 6 month period anything could happen - you could fall ill, a family emergency could occur, or you could simply lose motivation to do anything for a week or two.
Let us know if you have any other handy tips for time management and organisational efficiency! We would love to share your tips and advice with the community.