Howdy Reader!

C. Northcote Parkinson was a naval historian active in the mid-20th century.

His "law" provides insight into the practice of time management:

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

Given three things to do over the course of a day, it will take the entire day to do them.

Parkinson's Law is a thief.

Given open rein, it will consume your evening.

It's consumed many of my evenings.

I can't afford to let it take hold this week.

My 35th high school reunion is this weekend, and I want my content created before then.

I want it scheduled so that it appears on the days that I'm spending with my classmates.

To do that, I need not only to produce what I publish for the beginning of the week, but also for the end, and do it by Wednesday.

Enter my task timer.

This is how I put that thief of Parkinson's Law under house arrest.

At the start of this email, I set my task timer and started it.

It's right in front of me. I can see the wedge of time slowly but steadily disappearing.

It reminds me of what I'm in the middle of doing. I'm easily distracted otherwise.

I created a deadline for myself out of thin air by doing this.

My goal is to get the email done before it beeps.

If I'm not done, it's not the end of the world. No one's going to come get me.

I'll certainly have gotten further along in a shorter time than if I just let my environment distract me like it normally does.

This is part of The GAS Method.

I'm working on a new product. Getting ahead is one component of the method.

And a task timer is helpful in accelerating your tempo to getting a backlog of content ready to go.

If you want a first look when it's ready, simply reply to this email and I'll make sure you're in!

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Let's build together!

~ John

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Note: Some links in this email may be affiliate links, and I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Just so you know ;)