---
title: Cycle Time Law
date: 2025-11-06T00:00:00
author: Charlie M.
category: SIGNAL
---
I woke up this morning with the sun peeking through the blinds in that way that it looks almost apologetic, like it didn't mean to disturb my attempt at sleeping in on a Saturday. I usually scroll through Instagram first thing, but I've been trying to ditch that habit. I actually deleted the app last night, thinking it might help me focus better today. But then I just lay there, staring at the ceiling. And I started thinking about productivity and all those things I never seem to get done.
So, cycle time law popped into my head. Not like I actively thought, "Oh yes, let's ponder the cycle time law today." But more like, "Why am I not getting things done?" and, poof, I remember reading something about it. It's this idea that the time it takes for a task to be completed is somehow linked to the number of tasks in progress. I think it's called Little's Law? Or maybe someone else came up with it too. I should probably look it up again, but here I am instead, in bed still, wondering how this all applies to my life.
I mean, I have this list, right? This never-ending to-do list that feels like a personal badge of honor when I cross something off, yet also this heavy chain wrapped around my ankle. Doing more should mean I'm completing more, but is it just me or does starting new stuff just slow everything else down? Like I start a workout plan, then I read about some other new method, and then suddenly I'm juggling five different routines and none of them stick.
Doesn't it get better if you finish one thing at a time? But then, if I wait to finish something before starting something else, won't I just be waiting forever? I mean, life isn't neatly compartmentalized and I'm not the kind of person who can wait for one door to close before I ram my foot into another. Maybe it's a self-control issue? Or maybe cycle time law just isn't the magic pill I want it to be.
I did read a study, though, a while back—well, I skimmed it, truth be told—about how reducing work in progress can somehow magically decrease the time it takes to complete each task. Maybe it was 20% more efficient or something? Or maybe I’m making that number up, like how I convinced myself kale would change my life. But even the researchers seemed unsure about why it worked, or maybe I just saw what I wanted to see.
This makes me think about how I approach my drafts, like this post. Unfinished drafts, like incomplete thoughts, scattered across my hard drive. Does having too many of them open somehow keep me from finishing any of them? But closing them feels like abandoning possibilities.
I guess I’m still in the process of figuring it all out, this whole cycle time law thing and how it maps onto my life—which is just a jumble of tasks and thoughts and half-finished endeavors. Maybe it’ll lead me to some epiphany. Or maybe I'll just find myself here again tomorrow, with the sun creeping through the blinds, wondering if I'm getting anywhere at all.