Before I describe what Parkinson’s Law is, let me give you an example that you might be able to relate to. If you give yourself the whole day to clean out the garage… congratulations, you’ve just booked yourself a full-day event.
Coffee breaks. Rediscovering old hockey sticks. “Organizing” a box of wires you’ll never use again. Somehow, 8 hours disappear and you’re left with a slightly cleaner garage and a vague sense that you worked hard.
Now flip it.
Give yourself 3 hours.
Suddenly you’re decisive. Ruthless, even. Junk gets tossed. Keep piles get smaller. You stop reminiscing about that broken patio chair from 2009 and just get on with it. And here’s the kicker—you get the job done about 80% as well in half the time.
That’s Parkinson’s Law in action: work expands to fill the time available.
And it’s quietly wrecking your sales productivity.
Salespeople (and let’s be honest, sales leaders too) fall into this trap constantly:
- Prospecting “all morning”
- Prepping for a call like it’s a board presentation
- Letting admin tasks sprawl across the day
It feels like work. It looks like work. But it’s not always productive.
Here’s the fix—simple, but not easy:
Put a timer on everything.
Not “I’ll prospect today.”
Try: “I’ve got 45 minutes to make 8 cold calls. Go!”
Not “I need to prepare for this meeting.”
Try: “30 minutes to get ready, then I’m done.”
What happens is exactly what happens in the garage:
- You focus on what actually matters
- You make faster decisions
- You stop polishing things that don’t need polishing
Is the output perfect? No.
Is it more than good enough? Almost always.
And in sales, speed beats perfection every time.
The uncomfortable truth: a lot of “busy” in sales is just time expanding to fill space. Take that space away, and performance tightens up fast.
So here’s your challenge this week:
Pick 2 to 3 tasks that normally drag on… and cut the time in half.
You’ll feel the pressure. Good. That’s the point.
Because nobody ever hit their number by organizing the garage all day.
