Here at Mental Garden, we've talked a lot about intrinsic motivation.
But there's also the other type – extrinsic motivation – that can be very helpful in certain situations, especially when you want to supplement motivation from within.
Recently, I finished a project that I was really excited about. Lots of internal motivation. But the project seemed very difficult and like it would take a long time.
By chance, I discovered a hackathon (coding competition) that gave me the opportunity to add two more ingredients to the mix:
- A deadline
- Skin in the game through financial rewards
The combination of passion + a deadline + skin in the game helped me get really excited about it. It caused me to spend many hours in a state of flow that would have been hard to reach on its own.
It also made it easy to prioritize relentlessly.
There were many times when I thought: "Wait – even though it would be so gratifying to work on this right now, it's not necessary to finish the project.” So I didn't do it, and put it off to "later" (=never).
And then I finished the project.
This was a very stressful last day, but I got something done. And this is not the first time a deadline has pushed me to finish something like this.
The idea behind this is called Parkinson's Law, which states that a task will take as long as there's time for it.
This can work in every direction: if I'd have had a week more, I probably would have finished a week later. If I'd only had one day for the whole thing, I’d still probably have finished something.
But I believe a deadline is not enough.
If you attempt a project with a deadline, and then you don’t finish the project and nothing happens, then that’s like there isn’t really a deadline at all. There has to be some kind of consequence.
So for this Retro and Planning, try using the idea of Parkinson’s Law for one of your own projects. Here we go ✨
✏️ Retro
What goals did you set for yourself last month, and how well did you achieve them?
Make a list of your goals (even if they were only implicit) and score them from 1 (low) to 10 (high). You are not allowed to pick a 7. Take notes as you go.
Is there something that is blocking you?
What held you back last month? What can you do to avoid this next month?
What did you learn?
Did you learn something about yourself, your environment, or about the work you do?
🔭 Planning
What are your top 3 priorities next month?
Why are they important to you?
What goals do you set for yourself in light of these priorities?
To beat procrastination, make sure to split every higher-level goal into small subgoals.
What are potential obstacles or challenges you may face?
How can you prepare for them?
🌈 Bonus
How can you use Parkinson’s Law to your advantage this month?
Think about what deadlines could make sense, and how you can attach consequences (like Wikipedia Pacts) to them.
🙏 Thanks!
Thank you for being a part of the Mental Garden community. I sincerely hope you found this email useful.
One aspect that may be overlooked here is the need for rest. For the two days after the hackathon, I simply spent time relaxing and not doing things I'd consider productive. In a way, I borrowed time from the future.
So please take everything I say here with a grain of salt - not every task should be accomplished this way. Stress, while sometimes useful, just isn’t worth it.
I wish you a beautiful weekend, and a great May! 🌷
With gratitude,
Marc
PS: There's also another way to put Parkonson's Law that I really like: "If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do."