Writing More Applications in Less Time

Parkinson’s Law

January 21, 2024

If you’d like to be seen by over 9,000 law students and graduates, get in touch.

Table of Contents

Hi friend,

By now you know I’m not advocating for the “productivity 24/7” mentality. That takes a tool on you sooner or later. But I’m not advocating for the “low productivity” either.

Here’s an interesting story:

In 1955, Cyril Parkinson, a naval historian and author, made a brilliant observation.

He noted that the British Civil Service was employing more and more people, yet the workload did not increase.

He investigated further and put his findings in a humorous essay which he published in The Economist.

He found that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

To illustrate this, he shared the story of a woman whose only task per day was to send a postcard.

In the story, she spends “around 60 minutes picking a card, another 30 minutes looking for her glasses, 90 minutes writing the card and 20 minutes deciding whether or not to take an umbrella to the mailbox.”

So if you give yourself all day to complete a task that should take an hour, you will take all day long to do it.

To combat this, you should set smart deadlines. Think of how much a task should take you and shorten that by 10%.

You can find 5 more tips to improve your productivity here.

📄 Application Bank

I have a quick request for you. I am putting together a successful applications bank, and I need your help for that. If you have successful applications please click here.

This bank will be completely free, forever.

I am also working on a step-by-step guide to creating compelling applications. I’ll let you know when both are live.

📚 Other newsletters I’m recommending you read:

 ⚒️ Resources

You can find everything here. 

Reply to this email stating how you would improve Equal Opportunity / what resources you would like to be added.

The best submission will win a £25 Amazon voucher.

⚖️ This week in Law History

21 January 1976 — The first commercial Concorde flight.

22 January 1972 — The Brussels Treaty of Accession was signed, paving the way for the UK to accede to the EU on 1.1.1973

23 January 1899 — Lord Denning was born. He developed the doctrine of Promissory Estoppel and other famous judgements.

24 January 2006 — Disney announced the purchase of Pixar Animation Studios. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom represented Disney in the all-stock deal with Pixar.

25 January 1533 — Henry VIII married his 2nd wife, Anne Boleyn, in a secret ceremony.  One year later, the Act of Supremacy 1534 was passed which declared him Supreme Head of The Church of England, effectively breaking away from the authority of the Pope.

26 January 1861 — Hong Kong was proclaimed British sovereign territory.

Which section is most useful to you?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

📆 Upcoming Law Events — Compiled by Anca Andreea Aurica

To gain access for free to all the AllAboutLaw events mentioned below, sign up for free here.

Monday 22 Jan

Tuesday 23 Jan

Wednesday 24 Jan

Thursday 25 Jan

How was today’s newsletter?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Reply

or to participate.