Today I listened to a podcast on which a man who’d had outsized success as an investor was interviewed. One thing he stressed was the need to set deadlines when you’re learning a new skill. If you don’t, learning the skill will take longer than it should.

What this investor was talking about is covered by Parkinson’s law, which says, “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

People have a natural tendency to pace themselves based on the time available to complete a task (e.g., learn a new skill). If that window is short, they’ll work really hard. If it’s longer or infinite, they’ll work slowly.

When I’m learning a skill (or doing any task, for that matter), I benefit tremendously from setting a deadline. Putting time constraints on what I’m trying to do forces me to figure out how to work efficiently. When I haven’t had a time-limited goal, it’s taken much longer than it should have.

Parkinson’s law is true and reflects human nature. I’m not immune to it, so I use deadlines as a constraint to avoid being falling into its trap.