Parkinson’s Principle – Why You’re Not Getting Results and How to Fix It
- Apr 24
- 4 min read
Written by Josh Grimm, Fitness and Mindfulness Coach
Josh Grimm is an industry-leading fitness and mindfulness coach. He is the founder of FITNUT, based in New York City, offering in-person and online coaching, global wellness retreats, podcasts, and seminars.
I first heard about Parkinson’s Principle while listening to a podcast, and it immediately stuck with me. Not because it was complicated, but because it explained something I had been seeing for years, both in my own routine and with my clients. It put a name to a pattern I couldn’t ignore.
The more time people gave themselves, the less focused and effective they became. The more structure they had, the better they performed. It was one of those concepts that made me step back and rethink how I was approaching not just training, but time as a whole. Since then, it’s become something I’ve applied in my own life and with my clients, and it’s made a noticeable difference in how we operate and the results we get.
Most people think their lack of results comes down to motivation. They tell themselves they need to be more disciplined, more focused, or more consistent. But in reality, the issue is usually much simpler. It comes down to how they’re using their time.
There’s a concept called Parkinson’s Principle that explains this perfectly. It states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. The more time you give something, the longer it takes. Not because it has to, but because you allow it to. When you apply this to fitness, it becomes very clear why so many people stay stuck.
I see it all the time. Someone blocks off an hour and a half for a workout, but the session is filled with long breaks, distractions, and low intensity. They leave feeling like they “put in the time,” but they didn’t actually get much done.
Now take that same person and give them 45 minutes, and everything changes. They move with purpose, stay focused, and train with intention. The quality of the workout goes up, even though the time goes down. The difference isn’t effort, but urgency.
One of the simplest ways to create this shift, if you are not working out with a trainer, is to train with a clock. Set a hard stop time before you even start your workout and commit to finishing within that window. You’ll naturally move faster, shorten your rest periods, and prioritize the exercises that actually matter instead of filling time.
This is where most people go wrong. They build their fitness routine around flexibility instead of structure. They tell themselves they’ll work out when they have time, eat better when things calm down, or get serious next week. But without clear boundaries, nothing sticks.
The same thing happens with nutrition. When there’s no plan, you rely on willpower, and willpower is unreliable. You eat what’s convenient, portions start to change, and consistency disappears. A more effective approach is to remove decision-making altogether. Decide your meals ahead of time, keep your food choices simple, and create repeatable patterns during the week. When you already know what you’re eating, you don’t have to negotiate with yourself in the moment.
Once you understand Parkinson’s Principle, you can start using it to your advantage. When you put constraints on your time, your execution improves immediately. Your workouts become more efficient because you’re working within a defined window.
Your focus sharpens, and you stop wasting energy on things that don’t actually benefit. Timing your rest periods instead of guessing keeps your intensity high. Structuring your workouts around a set number of exercises forces you to focus on quality over quantity.
Even something as simple as preparing your gym clothes or meals the night before removes the decision-making process and makes it easier to follow through the next day. These are not complicated strategies, but they create consistency, and consistency is what drives results. When your routine is already decided, you remove the need to rely on motivation in the moment and simply have a plan in place.
On the other side of this is where most people get stuck. No deadlines, no schedule, no urgency. That’s where procrastination lives. In fitness, this is what drives the cycle of starting strong, falling off, and starting over again. It’s not a lack of effort. It’s a lack of direction.
When everything is open-ended, it’s easy to delay. It’s easy to justify skipping a workout or making a poor choice because there’s always tomorrow. But tomorrow keeps getting pushed. One of the most effective ways to break this cycle is by creating accountability outside of yourself. Whether that’s training with a coach, committing to a program, or even setting specific check-ins each week, having something that holds you to a standard changes how you show up.
The solution isn’t to do more, but it’s to be more intentional with the time you already have. Shorten the window and raise the standard. Commit to specific training times and treat them as non-negotiable. Simplify your routine so you’re not wasting energy on unnecessary decisions and on execution.
When you do this consistently, everything starts to shift. You begin to build discipline that doesn’t rely on how you feel, but instead becomes part of your daily routine.
Parkinson’s Principle is always at play, whether you realize it or not. The question is whether it’s working for you or against you. Because when you take control of your time, you take control of your results.
Josh Grimm, Fitness and Mindfulness Coach
Josh Grimm offers a unique combination of fitness and mindfulness coaching through his brand, FITNUT, which he started in 2014 after spending a length of time in Southeast Asia and then returning home to New York City. His holistic approach of curating a culmination of physical and mental fitness training via one-on-one coaching, an online multi-use platform, podcasts, seminars, and global wellness retreats, brings together a community that wants to live their ideal mindset through optimal physical and mental health.
