how to finish your homework faster

Hey y’all,

This week, I want to cover one of my favorite tips for finishing homework faster: the “fixed before variable” rule. (It’s something I came up with a while back, haha.)

I find that most homework assignments fall into one of two categories. Some assignments are “fixed,” meaning that they’ll take a predictable amount of time to complete. For example, reviewing 20 flashcards or answering 15 math problems.

Now yes, some problems will take longer than others—and some amount of variability is inevitable—but “fixed” tasks are those that require minimal creativity and focus more on pure grunt work.

On the other hand, you have “variable” tasks. These are tasks that can take as long as you want them to. For example, brainstorming topics for an essay or working on a presentation. These are tasks that rely more on imagination and are harder to quantify.

From my experience, you should always do fixed tasks first. Let’s explore why.

If you follow people in the productivity space, you’ve probably heard of Parkinson’s Law by now. Here’s how it goes:

In other words, if you give yourself three hours to do a simple task, it’ll take you three hours. If you give yourself two hours, it’ll take you two hours.

If you do your fixed tasks first, you’ll constrain the amount of time you have for your variable tasks and get everything done.

If you do your variable tasks first, they’ll inflate to take up most of (if not the entire) day, and you probably won’t have enough time for your fixed tasks.

Let’s walk through a more concrete example.

You start studying at 6 PM and need to go to bed by 10 PM. You have three tasks to work on:

1. Creating 20 history flashcards

2. Solving 15 math problems

3. Writing an English essay

The first two tasks are fixed, meaning they’ll take a defined amount of time, whereas the last one is a variable task, meaning it can vary.

1. Creating 20 history flashcards: 60 minutes

2. Solving 15 math problems: 90 minutes

3. Writing an English essay: ? minutes

If you do the fixed tasks first, here’s how your schedule will look:

Notice how you can squeeze that essay into the final 90 minutes of your day and finish all three tasks.

If you do the variable task first, here’s how your schedule might look:

The task expanded to take up the time available for its completion (Parkinson’s Law), leaving you no time for the fixed tasks.

Of course, this is an extreme example, but hopefully it illustrates this point that I’m trying to make. Because variable tasks are subject to Parkinson’s Law, whereas fixed tasks (theoretically) are not, you should do your fixed tasks first.

Hope that was helpful! Also, if you enjoy these newsletters and would like to see them more consistently, DM me on Instagram to let me know (@goharsguide). Would love to hear your thoughts!

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I’ll see you next week!

Best,
Gohar