You need to Break this Law to Gain Financial Freedom

I don't normally tell people to do this, but sometimes you have to break the law to get ahead in life.

There's an adage you might have heard of, “work expands ... to fill the time available for its completion.” This just means - Give someone a week to finish a task that could be done in a day, and somehow it still takes the whole week to finish. The job grows, the effort stretches, and time seems to vanish.

This was an idea first proposed by Cyril Parkinson in a satirical article meant to critique the lack of efficiency and the continual rising cost in areas like the public service. Eventually the idea was revised and expanded to become famously known as 'Parkinson's Law' relating to productivity and time management in the workplace generally.

It’s Not Just About Time: The Garage Effect

Parkinson’s Law doesn’t stop at time. Once you start looking for it, you see it everywhere.

Take storage. No matter how big your house or garage, it eventually fills up. You clean out a cupboard, and within weeks it’s full again. Add more shelves, and somehow they don’t stay empty for long.

Or think about roads — build more of them and, before long, there are more cars. It’s as though human behaviour automatically adapts to consume any new capacity we create.

And that brings us to money — perhaps the most sneaky and powerful example of Parkinson’s Law in action.

How Lifestyle Inflation Keeps You Running in Place

If you’ve ever looked back and realised you’re earning double what you made ten years ago but still feel like you’re living paycheque to paycheque, Parkinson’s Law is the culprit.

Just as work expands to fill time, spending expands to fill income: as your salary increases, so do your expenses. It’s the financial version of Parkinson’s Law, and it’s the engine behind what behavioural econonomists call - lifestyle inflation.

It seems normal that as you earn more, your needs increase and you end up spending more of that hard earned extra money. Parkinson's Law says that, no matter how much money you earn, you tend to spend the entire amount, and a little bit more besides (that's why you have those credit cards).

When we start earning more, it feels natural — even justified — to upgrade. The cheaper car becomes a newer model. The modest dinner out becomes a weekend away. Each raise, bonus, or promotion brings a little more comfort, but rarely more savings. The danger isn’t in enjoying what you’ve earned — it’s in allowing your expenses to rise so inately that you never feel wealthier, no matter how much more you make.

Today you might be earning several times what you were at your first job but somehow, you seem to need every single penny to maintain your lifestyle. No matter how much you make, there never seems to be enough at the end of the week.

That’s why, to build real financial independence, you have to do something bold. You have to break Parkinson’s Law.

Breaking the Law (Safely)

Violating Parkinson's Law is not like defying gravity, it can be done. You don’t have to live like a monk or deprive yourself uneseccarily. You just have to create a gap between what you earn and what you spend — and make that gap non-negotiable.

Because here’s the truth: every dollar you don’t spend has a job. It’s the seed of your future choices. It’s the deposit on your next property, the buffer in your emergency fund, the investment that keeps working, providing passive income long after you’ve clocked off.

The challenge is psychological, not mathematical.

The “Crisis Test”

When helping customers beat lifestyle inflation I ask them to imagine they are facing an economic catastrophe. What If your income suddenly dropped by 20%, what if you lost your job? what would you cut first? Which expenses are truly essential — and which have quietly become habits or conveniences?

It’s an exercise in awareness more than austerity. It helps people see how much of their spending is simply the result of expansion, not genuine need.

Wealth and Business Coach Brian Tracy does something similar:

...imagine that your financial life is like a failing company that you have taken over. Institute an immediate financial freeze. Halt all non-essential expenses. Draw up a budget of your fixed, unavoidable costs per month and resolve to limit your expenditures temporarily to these amounts. Carefully examine every expense. Question it as though you were analyzing someone else’s expenses. Look for ways to economise or cut back. Do this and aim for a minimum of a 10 percent reduction in your living costs over the next three months.

It’s not about punishment — it’s about perspective. Once you see how flexible your finances can be, you regain control.

The Real Reward of Breaking the Law

When you finally break Parkinson’s Law, something interesting happens: money stops feeling scarce.

You realise that to gain financial freedom isn’t about earning more, it’s about needing less. You start to notice opportunities instead of limitations. You stop chasing pay rises to cover lifestyle upgrades, and start pursuing growth because it opens new doors.

You don’t have to live like a miser to get there. You just need awareness — and the discipline to keep your lifestyle one step behind your income.

Ultimately, the lesson is simple: awareness creates freedom. Being able to break Parkinson’s Law when it comes to money will radically improve your life. Recognising how easily our financial lives “expand” helps us pause, make conscious choices, and keep growth purposeful instead of automatic.

The truth is, for the overwhelming majority of people, financial independence isn’t built on giant windfalls or get-rich-quick schemes. It’s built on thousands of small, deliberate decisions. In the end, it’s not how much you earn that builds wealth — it’s how much you keep.

And unlike breaking most laws, this one comes with a happy ending. You won’t go to gaol for defying Parkinson’s Law — you’ll go wherever you want.

What limits on your expenditure will you set in order to break The Law and achieve financial freedom? Leave a comment below or give me a call to discuss.