Ronnie’s work
time allowed
to fit the just protecting the rest of her work week: the disturb.’ And slap a physical ‘do not disturb’
With no time compressed time sharpened her focus. She sign on your office door. A recent study showed
constraints, he lost focus and fell down the got more done than expected on the handbook it can take up to twenty minutes to recover from
infinite-playlist-rabbit-hole. project each week. one short interruption.
So how do we use Parkinson’s law as a hack Second, Rachel typically had about twenty KEEP COMPRESSING.
to achieve the non-urgent but essential work in office hours to get Sunday work done. Experiment with tighter and tighter time
ministry? There are lots of ways to use this law Unknowingly, she allowed routine tasks to fill constraints for your weekly and monthly routine
as a time-saving hack, but here’s one powerful up those twenty hours. But after intentionally work. You’ll be surprised how much you can
tactic: Do long-term work first . taking time away for her special project, she accomplish when you tighten the focus.
he
expanded
for
it.
found seventeen hours was still sufficient to
Rather than starting your ‘this Sunday’ work on complete her Sunday work. Again, tighter time Making the most of your time as a worship
Monday morning (or whenever your first work forces a tighter focus. leader (volunteer or vocational) is just good
day is), dedicate the first 5-10% of your week
to work on a long-term ministry growth project.
stewardship. Sure, it’s fantastic to achieve more
Let me leave you with a few power tips to make in less time. But more importantly, it’s about
the most of doing long-term growth work first: protecting yourself from constant overwhelm,
Rachel decides to try this hack. She committed
unnecessary stress, and eventual burnout.
the first three hours of her week for the next USE A TIMER.
month to update her team policy handbook. By Set your phone’s timer for however long you
doing this, she applied Parkinson’s law in two want to focus on a task. It’s an external cue
ways. to motivate you and a boundary that helps you
contain your work.
First, she limited this special project so it didn’t
steal too much from her critical preparation for PROTECT YOUR TIME.
Sunday. But that limitation had a benefit beyond Set your phone and computer to ‘do not
June 2019
Jon Nicol
Jon’s the founder of WorshipWorkshop.com and
WorshipTeamCoach.com, two sites that help
worship leaders build strong teams and lead
engaging worship. He lives and serves in Lexington,
Ohio with his wife Shannon and their four kids.
WorshipTeamCoach.com
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