Dealing with deadlines: a simple step-by-step plan

Tuesday 21 January 2020, 16:32 by Elvira Smit | 3,512 views | 1 comment

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Recently, I read a principle that explained a lot for me: the time needed for a task fits exactly into the amount of time available. In other words, if you have 15 minutes to finish something, it will take 15 minutes.

But if you have a day, it will take a day. So here are three tips for using Parkinson's Law to take more photographs.

Recently, I got lost on the internet. I was supposed to be doing something else, but sometimes that is how it goes and I ended up on websites with a great deal of interesting things to read.

In this case, what I read was about the fact that I was dragging out my work. And that this was logical, because my task did not have to be finished immediately. I simply had time to mess about. And according to Parkinson's Law, I would keep doing that until the real deadline came into sight.

Well, that sounded plausible. Cyril Parkinson shared this wisdom in an article in The Economist as early as 1955. He used the following definition:

Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.

Someone who has nothing to do all day can spend hours doing the shopping. You recognise them immediately in the supermarket: they are the people who strike up conversations and can spend minutes deciding which custard to take.

They stand in front of you in the queue and only look for their wallet when it is time to pay. They have time, lots of time, and fill it casually. Their lives are not ruled by the clock.

But what does this have to do with photography?

In my case, a lot. Taking photographs is rarely linked to clear deadlines. And then it can easily happen that your projects never get off the ground.

In previous years, I had a clear deadline. For three years, I took a photograph every week on the Noordereiland in Rotterdam. Each year, I had a different focus. Without that deadline, the whole thing suddenly ground to a halt.

So, how can you make the best use of Parkinson's Law? Three tips:

1. Find external pressure

Setting yourself a deadline is of course admirable, but it also requires a lot of discipline. And if you need that fictitious deadline so badly, there is a good chance that discipline is precisely what you are lacking.

That is why you should create external pressure. Take a photography course, arrange to go photographing with a friend, or share your goals with your partner and ask them to call you out when you are messing about.

2. Ask yourself whether you can halve your deadline

Right, you have just decided to take six months for photography project X. But why not three months? Write down these reasons and decide whether they are valid, or whether your Lazy Self is trying to claim more time.

3. Break your deadlines down as much as possible

You may want to take more photographs this year. But what does that look like in concrete terms? What do you need to do today to achieve it? So break your goals down into months or weeks. Schedule photo walks or photoshoots now. Make sure you do not clutter up your year, but schedule time for photography.

So, which project, initiative or idea are you putting off? Get it out, go through the three steps above and get started!

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About the author

Ik heb een eigen fotografieblog, Kronkeling. Daar schrijf ik om de week twee artikelen. Over hoe je je blik kunt scherpen, je creativiteit kunt aanwakkeren, en over fotografen die mij inspireren. Geen technische zaken, wél over hoe je leert kijken. En dat blijkt nog een hele klus. Een mooi startpunt zijn de Kronkeltips, die vind je hier.

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1 comment

ErikvanRosmalen wrote on Wednesday 22 January 2020 at 11:56 | reply
Nice story, Elvira. And very familiar - not so much from my photography background, but also as a content creator/copywriter. "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by", Douglas Adams already said
Translated from Dutch.

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