Parkinson's Law

…when you find Substack filling all your free moments

This year is about clearing all forms of clutter, starting with my file cabinet. In that vein, I went from posting my Substack once a week, to posting once a month. I figured my audience might get annoyed at newsletters cluttering their inboxes.

Photo by Justin Morgan on Unsplash

But here’s the thing, I used to start writing my Substack post at the beginning of the week and then ponder my chosen topic all week, adding thoughts here and there until I hit publish on Friday. Now I start my post at the beginning of the month, ponder my chosen topic all month, adding thoughts here and there until I hit publish somewhere near the end of the month.

This phenomenon is called Parkinson’s Law, which states:

Your work will expand to fill in the available time.

I learned of this “law” in my first year of college. After explaining Parkinson’s law, my venerable professor shuffled over to his desk and said it didn’t matter if he gave us one week or one month or all semester to do an assignment, because we would always drag our feet and start them at midnight the day before they were due.  

I was determined not to be that kind of student. I like to plan ahead and be prepared for the potential illness, fender bender, or family emergency that might pop up and take time from the intended task.

I am determined not to be that kind of writer either. My average Substack post might take about an hour to write, depending on how many rabbit holes I hop down while doing “research.”

So, why not start them the day before I intend to publish? Why keep that subject weighing on my mind all month? Maybe it is because I like to let ideas stew a little. Maybe I am worried that I might not be able to think of anything to write about under pressure. Maybe I want to make sure my posts have some value for readers interested in making the most of their time. Maybe I just like to edit and edit and re-edit.

Another reason I reduced my Substack posting to only once a month is that I have other writing projects and I found that Substack was filling those little pockets of time that I could have been spending on writing my children’s books or poetry. Because I work full time, I only write for a few moments in the morning, as I am drinking my French roast, or a few hours on weekends, as I drink even more French roast.

And while I am not actually working on the Substack post all that time, it is in the back of my mind. Thoughts about Parkinson’s Law have been stewing and blending, but not much actual writing has been happening.

All this stewing may not be a bad thing, but along with the serious topic of time management, I do want to give my creative writing sugar plums time to dance in my head as well.

So what is the solution? I started this post two weeks ago. Instead of giving myself the rest of the month to complete it, I gave myself one Pomodoro – that is one 25-minute chunk of time to finish it up, edit, and post it online.

Next month, we will see if I can do a little better, posting mid-month in order to free up space in my head for the next poem or the next Substack post.