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Parkinson's Law · Fierce Encouragement

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for joining me.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is Mark, and this is Fierce Encouragement, a new podcast talking about how we can be more encouraging of ourselves.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so, why that?
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, as a coach and a consultant to help people transform their lives, I find that I'm working in the mindscape a lot and meaning simply this.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: By fierce encouragement, we talk about positive self-image and using those inner voices and those inner aspirational feelings and emotions, if you will, to help drive us, to help make our days better.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why I use fierce encouragement as a motto.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: I find it's something that I say all the time to my coaches, and honestly to myself.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: So when things get tough or things are difficult, we can always kind of reset or default back to that fierce encouragement.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: How can I be more kind to myself?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: How can I be more open and supportive of myself?
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of the lay of the land here, but I really appreciate you tuning in, sharing your time, and I'll get right into it.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: This week I wanted to talk about Parkinson's law.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: If I have the history of it correct, it was a newspaper article, I believe, or a magazine article from the 1950s, which talks about simply this: that our work will expand to fill the time we allot it or give it.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: So work expands to fill that time we give it or that deadline.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: And why is this important?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, when we kind of look at ourselves, I guess, and I can turn around and look at behind me and all the work I've done over the past many years as a project manager, as a technical writer, uh, working on website projects and things like that, and even being a coach and supporting others, I find that my projects or the ideas I have can be really ephemeral or loose or unable to like tangibly grasp onto something that I need to do.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me at least, when I think about the big things that I want to do, whether it's connecting with more clients, building up my own business, learning, being a good dad or a good husband, all these big projects in my life, if I don't hold myself to a good time of work or a good deadline, I naturally won't do it.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: But when we look at Parkinson's law and kind of the deadlines we give ourselves, maybe we aren't operating at a good optimum level to what we could be doing.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe it's simply this that we look at Parkinson's law and we see that work fills the time that we give it.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: So if we give it three or four three or four days to get something done, we'll be amazed at how much more things get added on to that task or that work that we want to complete.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: And thinking about it from a bigger standpoint, we can look at how projects takes on take on more riders and more requirements as we wait and hesitate or as we kind of get lost from the meaning of the true work.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe that's what this is about.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: The true work that we want to do.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Is it important?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: What is it?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: How can we be really crystal clear on what we want from it in our lives, but also to zoom into today?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what's the few things I can take action on today?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: We always overestimate what we can deliver on, and we also underestimate the speed of which we can go.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so to end there and kind of bring this all home, thinking about what we can do with this information.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: What can we do knowing that Parkinson's law, that our work will expand to fill the time that we give it to be completed?
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: What can we do?
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: What's the lesson here?
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, and for my mentors and the coaches that I've had the pleasure to work with and the clients that I've helped, it kind of comes down to this, and it's uncomfortable, but it's go fast.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: It is that agile scrum methodology of plan your work, make it visible, and go fast.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And be willing to have missteps or failures, if you will, or just chances to learn, finding out where there's discrepancies and making time to listen, to connect, and learn and grow from that.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so maybe that's the most frustrating thing that we don't want to hear from a coach or a consultant or from somebody who's kind of thought partnering with us, a good friend at work, is we need to go faster and be willing to make mistakes and learn from them.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I know a ton of corporations talk about this, a ton of IT project groups talk about this, or even departments, but it's really hard to put into practice to allow that failure to be visible, to feel that discomfort, to sense that it wasn't good.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And we're kind of going against all the ingrained habits of our society.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: So again, we talk about this, but it's a concept for 90% of us.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about agile methodology and scrum.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about being personally responsible and working on ourselves in a patient, um, consistent way.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: But then we do things like, you know, make New Year's resolutions.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: And they last for what, a week, a day, maybe?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: By the end of the month, of end of January, most of us know what happens to resolutions.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: So a great tool here is to go quick, start today.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: No matter where you're at, no matter what goal or what project you want to take on, you can start at it today.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Why wait?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Parkinson's law tells us that uh the aspirations that we have will fill the time allotted that we give it.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if we think about it from a life and love perspective, we think we're gonna be here forever.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: We think we'll have that time eternal with our family and friends.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: We think that this job or this relationship is the end-all be all, but quite the opposite.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Our time is temporary, our love is uh infinite in intention, but it's time to share it, it's here, it's now, it's with you today.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And to use the self-encouragement and the fierce encouragement and looking inward, the time isn't to wait.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's not time to wait any longer.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to turn inward and realize that there's so much inside of you that can be helpful from an encouraging standpoint.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: We would talk to our dear friend or loved ones on the street or in the driveway or wherever we're at in the world.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: We would hold them in our hearts and encourage them and be like, you got this.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's inspiring to see you take on these projects or have a family or do these, you know, learning activities.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: It is inspiring to see those loved ones and dear ones around us that are taking steps in their life that you can see them getting better.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: You can feel it, you can see it in their eyes and their energy, whether it's just getting in a little better shape, whether it's, you know, having a better diet, better sleep habits, or even going deeper.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's taking on some personal healing, right?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Some time to heal, some patience, some open-heartedness.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that can sometimes be the hardest work because we're hard on ourselves.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: We feel that we should be done and completed.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: But why can't we just treat ourselves like we would treat our dear friend?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Why can't we encourage ourselves when we see, like, oh, I need to do some work here, I need to be more patient with myself here?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: That is where the fierce encouragement comes from within.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: The self-encouragement, the fierce self-encouragement, noticing when we're talking negatively and having negative ruminations and energy during the day, making action towards using activities that help us come back to balance, come back to centering, come back to that purpose, improved self-image to cast away our doubt and just stay at it, stay gritty, win a couple things today, make time for recovering and connection, and know that uh encouragement, that fear center encouragement is really a positive and difficult road to go down.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope this helps.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about Parkinson's law today and kind of delaying that gratification, right?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: We are putting it off too long.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: We aren't going quick.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: We should uh think about our lives in small pockets of projects.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: As a recovering project manager, I love the idea of kind of making our life the project.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: See your life in two or three years.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: See those, break down the things you want to get done, the goals and the habits, and even come more upstream.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: What are the leading indicators or the leading habits that are going to guide you toward that person, that job, that relationship, that better health?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: And this is the way to go.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen it in hundreds of my clients.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen it with myself and worked with it with my coaches over the years.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, I help people kind of drill down to their specific goals and the specific actions they can take to drive towards these better lives, being the best version of ourselves.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: It literally is using an honest curiosity, listening and learning from others, encouraging ourselves, encouraging others towards mindfulness, towards awareness, towards a deep respect for ourselves and others.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to help you and I want to help the community grow.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you need some more help on this and like to talk to me personally, please reach out to me.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: You can find me at markwalkercoach.com.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's markwalkercoach.com.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Jump on uh jump on my website.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: There's some links there where you can uh take a survey and possibly set up a session with me.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: We can uh talk about what your plans are and we can go a little deeper on how we can use Parkinson's law, but also fierce encouragement and that partnership, that idea of connection to help you go towards your purpose, to help you defeat your doubt and just build that muscle to stay at it.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks again for sharing your time.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: I hope uh I hear from some of you.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let me know how this strikes you, and uh, this is Fierce Encouragement.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Mark Walker.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Take care of you.