M.C. Laubscher Discusses Understanding Parkinson's Law

In today’s episode, I discuss Parkinson's Law. Norcote Parkinson wrote a book called Parkinson’s Law where he isolates some limitations of us all and particularly focuses in on the behavior of individuals within a group. In Parkinson’s Law he writes, “Work expands to meet the time envelope allowed.” Meaning if we have 5 days to complete a task, it will take us 5 days to complete the task. If we were allowed 30 days to complete the same task, we would take 30 days to complete the task. Parkinson’s law also states that, “a luxury, once enjoyed, becomes a necessity” and “expenses rise equal to income” In a financial context, we can define Parkinson’s Law as: the more you earn, the more you spend. When our income increases, our expenses rise to meet or exceed that increase. We are always working against Parkinson’s Law.