Parkinson’s Law says that an activity will take all the time that you allot to it. If you have a report to write and you think it will take two days then you’re right – it will take two days. If however you get a sudden phone call from the boss who says that he needs it by the end of today – hey presto – magically you get it done today.

You can’t defeat this law – but you can play it to your advantage. Use Parkinson’s law to decide how long you want a specific activity to take. Decide that you want to finish preparing course material by the end of the day. Decide that you will catch up on some emails by lunchtime. Decide that you will return five phone calls between now and your next meeting.

In making the decision you are thinking about what you need to get done, stating an intention and then focussing your mind on getting it done. This means that you are more likely to be successful at completing the task or tasks within the given timeframe than if you hadn’t made the decision and just allowed yourself to drift through the day.

When life is throwing one challenge after another at you how can you keep moving forward and win through each day?

The key words here are ‘each day’. In challenging times, if you are facing illness, stress at work or money problems, you can determine each morning to have some kind of victory, no matter how small. You don’t have to be Hercules, make all your problems go away or solve the woes of the world; but if you can just generate and recognise one small success then your day will have been valuable and you will feel that you are gradually winning with your battles.

A small success may be:

• dispatching your CV to one new potential employer which is a step on the way to escaping the hell of your current job
• completing a project at work which removes at least one item from your overcrowded to-do list
• finding a 2 for 1 coupon at your favourite café so you can have a cheap lunch with a friend
• finding a cheaper mobile phone tariff which then allows you to pay off extra money each month on your overloaded credit card
• coming across a blog that gives some great tips on how to manage a health condition from which you are suffering
• finding the right health practitioner who can help to reduce the physical pain you are experiencing

These successes may not make all of your problem go away but at least you can then see that you are making some positive progress. You are going to feel a lot better if you focus on what is going right rather than what is going wrong.

Looking for small improvements also makes each day more manageable so you don’t feel as overwhelmed by circumstances. Knowing that you can find a way to advance even a tiny bit may make it easier to get out of bed in the morning!

Finally, reflecting on what has gone well, even if it is something small or a seemingly insignificant event, cultivates an attitude of gratitude rather than complaint. This helps you to see where your difficulties are making you into a better, stronger person rather than feeling worthless because everything seems so hopeless.