Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the time you are given for its completion.

If you are given an hour to do a task, it will get done within the hour. If you are given six hours to do the same task, you will take six hours to do it.

I’ve been struggling with my students in motivating them to complete work in class. As much as possible, I try and avoid giving them homework because I know how valuable time with family can be… especially if they’re involved in extra-curricular activities.

However, being students, they weren’t finishing work in class and they were always too busy at home to complete work as well.

Then a suggestion came to show a time-lapse of a sunset in the classroom. There are many variations of this online, each with different times (anywhere from a minute to twenty minutes). The idea is to apply Parkinson’s Law and tell students they are to finish a (small portion) of a task before the sun sets.

The kicker – they do not know how long it will take to set. The timer on the video is hidden from them.

The motivation to finish skyrocketed.

It’s also an appropriate image for ourselves.

We don’t know how long it will take before the sun sets in our own lives.

It’s best to get to work and finish as much as we can before it happens.