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Parkinson's Law

Over the past month I've had workshops at 8:30 am, 9:00 am, 2:00 pm, and 3:00 pm.  It seems that no matter what time a workshop is set to start, there is always one-third of the class that is late.  I’ve tried different times to allow people the opportunity to get here from their busy lives, but to no avail.  No matter the time, a gaggle of folks will show up late.

•  The same goes for my family.  If the movie starts at 6:00, we show up at 6:15 (thank goodness for 30 minutes of previews.)
•  It occurs with my newsletters too.  For July, I wanted to write something really poignant, while apolitical, about the healthcare ruling and how it affected small businesses.  You see how that panned out.
•   This is especially true for business owners.  I’ve had several clients who have a deadline with a bank and they will wait until the last minute to get documents together.  And by wait, I mean they will be consumed with the busyness of the request until then, no matter when the deadline is.

Enter Parkinson’s law.

   Cyril Northcote Parkinson as part of the first sentence of a humorous essay published in The Economist in 1955 wrote, “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

   We set arbitrary deadlines for important, not urgent, goals.  We will fiddle around, researching, pondering, running through endless scenarios in our mind, only to have the date creep up on us and either have to push the deadline back or not meet it at all.

   “But you don’t understand, I thrive under pressure.”  Fine.  Just set your deadlines sooner.  Pushing the date back could give you more time to make a better decision.  Unfortunately, it usually just gives you more time to waste.

   Below are areas you should not allow Parkinson’s Law to take over:

•     Tax planning - We know it is important, however we put it off until the end of the year.  We then go to the accountant and expect them to work magic.  
• Visit your accountant now and identify ways to lower (legally) your tax liability for this year.
•     Hiring employees – We know that we will need some additional help once we reach a certain level of revenue.  Unfortunately, we often wait until that revenue level has been reached, and then we hire the first warm body we come across, resulting in the wrong fit.  
• Identify that time now, update the job description, and take your time to get the right fit.
•      Updating that Space Jam looking website – It looks bad and you know it looks bad.  “We’ve just been so busy, you know.”   
• Get it done now!  That website is your storefront and will be the first impression your customer receives. 

The TSBDC offers free and confidential one-on-one counseling for existing and start up small businesses.  To register for go to www.tsbdc.org.   

Other contact information - Phone (615) 230-4780  www.volstate.edu/tsbdc

The Tennessee Small Business Development Center Network is funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration and local community donors.