2942: Retire Early with Parkinson's Law by Joel of 5AMJoel on How to Achieve Early Retirement

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever noticed how a calm mind can really set the stage for a good night's sleep? That's the idea behind our new podcast, Good Sleep. Greg, our host from Optimal Relationships Daily, is here to help ease you into a peaceful night's rest with some positive affirmations. And these affirmations aren't just comforting. They can help ease anxiety and nurture positive thoughts, setting you up for true good sleep.

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[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Optimal Finance Daily. Retire Early with Parkinson's Law by Joel of 5AMJoel.com

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Work Expands so as to Fill the Time Available for Its Completion

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_00]: A dude named Cyril Parkinson wrote this phrase in the opening sentence of an essay published in 1955.

[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_00]: From what I gather, Parkinson was basically making fun of the government for wasting time and money. He mathematically proved that various sections of public administration were not running as efficiently as they could. Rising costs, headcounts, and taxes far exceeded the amount of actual work that needed to be done.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not just the government. In some way or another, everyone is inefficient. In most cases, it's subconscious, and we do things because that's the way it's always been done.

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's break Parkinson's Law down further. There are two factors in Parkinson's Law, work and time. Work equals the stuff in life we need to get done. Time equals the time we get the stuff done in.

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_00]: We usually have no control over work. We usually have no control over work. We have basic chores in life. We get given tasks, assignments at work, or we create work for ourselves. Time, on the other hand, we have 100% control over. Nobody owns you. Nobody owns your time. You get to decide how much time you spend on doing the work. You can choose whether it's a short time or a long time.

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_00]: A quick example. Sally is an office clerk who does pretty much the same stuff at work every day. Record keeping, accounting, and some basic admin tasks.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00]: On Monday, Sally arrives at her office at 9 a.m. and she has 10 tasks to do before going home.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: She works throughout the day, gets her 10 tasks done, and finishes around 5 p.m. right about the same time all her co-workers are leaving the office also.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_00]: It takes Sally 8 hours to get 10 tasks done.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_00]: On Tuesday, Sally arrives at the office at 9 a.m. as usual with 10 pending tasks to do that day.

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_00]: But that morning, she receives a surprise text message from her best friend who is visiting from out of town for one day only.

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_00]: The friend asks Sally if she can get off of work early to grab lunch, go shopping, and catch a movie.

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Sally really wants to get off work early to hang out with her friend, but knows her boss won't let her leave until she's completed her 10 tasks.

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Suddenly motivated, Sally applies extreme focus to absolutely crush her 10 tasks.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_00]: As a result, she finishes all of her work before 12 noon and gets to leave early to hang out with her friend.

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_00]: It took Sally only 3 hours to complete the same 10 tasks, a huge reduction from 8 hours the prior day.

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_00]: How did she do that?

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Sally compared her activities from both days and noticed a few major differences she did on Tuesday.

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: First of all, Sally eliminated distractions to focus on her 10 tasks only.

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: When her co-workers stopped by her desk to share stories, Sally politely told them she was busy and would catch up with them another time.

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Second, Sally constantly looked at the clock while she worked.

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: She really wanted to get off of work by 12 noon and kept exact track of her time.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: The ticking clock motivated her.

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_00]: And third, Sally reordered her tasks to tackle the hardest ones first.

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: She also worked on only one task at a time until it was complete, then moved on to the next.

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_00]: What has this got to do with early retirement?

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_00]: If we zoom out and look at work from a whole career perspective, most people just do what everyone else is doing.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Careers are supposed to be 40 years long, so we allow them to be 40 years long.

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_00]: If we truly believe that time is 100% within our control, we can choose how long we want our career to be.

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_00]: 5 years?

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_00]: 10 years?

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: 50 years?

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Ultimately, whatever you want it to be, it will be.

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Final notes.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Work is not the enemy.

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00]: We all have work.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And work has to be done.

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_00]: In the previous example, Sally has the exact same amount of work as everyone else in life.

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Time is in your control.

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_00]: You get to choose how to spend it.

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: In the previous example, Sally has the exact same amount of time as everyone else in life.

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_00]: You just listened to the post titled, Retire Early with Parkinson's Law by Joel of 5amjoel.com.

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Our work culture tends to glorify people who put in long hours.

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_00]: As if their ability and willingness to work hard and sacrifice time for self-care in relationships

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: makes them somehow superior.

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Or that their success is guaranteed because they're laser-focused on work and putting in

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00]: long hours.

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I used to be one of these people.

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Until I started questioning some of these assumptions.

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Another way to look at it is that these people are wildly inefficient.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_00]: A recent study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the average worker really only does

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_00]: 2 hours and 53 minutes of work in an 8-hour day.

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_00]: When I hear someone bragging about how busy they are, their long hours at work, or how they

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_00]: don't have any time for X, Y, and Z, I no longer make assumptions about how successful or talented

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: or hardworking they are.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_00]: They are simply expressing how inefficient they are.

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_00]: If you struggle to get your work done, it's likely due to four things.

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Number one, you have too large of a workload caused by an unrealistic manager and you haven't

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_00]: learned to honor your own boundaries.

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Oftentimes, this is self-imposed.

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Number two, you are unable to prioritize the most important tasks.

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Number three, you are easily distracted and you waste time.

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And or number four, you don't have the skill set to work through your tasks in a reasonable

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_00]: amount of time.

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_00]: None of these reasons are particularly impressive.

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's ironic that our culture idolizes people who spend long hours at work.

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_00]: That brings us to the end though.

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks so much for listening all the way through and I'll see you tomorrow, as usual, where your

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_00]: optimal life awaits.