It Never Takes “Just A Second”
When I’m focused on a task, I don’t notice time passing.
Often, I feel more ‘distracted’ than focused. What I expect to finish in 30 seconds takes 30 minutes.
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Paying for inventory (Paying takes 1 click, but re-confirming details and recording transactions takes time)
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Giving creative direction (Drawing a cute picture of what you want takes time.)
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On a phone call “Let me just do this for you now” (Leaves them waiting much longer than ‘just a second.’)
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Getting food (Walking to a restaurant, or even turning on boiling water… takes time!)
Even making a cup of coffee takes more time than you’d think, but I only realized this after I started keeping track. (Stopwatch on my phone.)
Truth: Small tasks feel like they only take a second or a minute because you are totally distracted by the task for the duration of the task, completely unaware of passing time.
Please try this:
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Choose one of your regular small tasks that you assume takes ‘just a second’ or ‘just a minute’.
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Start a timer, begin the task, and stop the timer when you’re done.
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You’ll be shocked. Much more time has passed than you think.
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Knowing how long something will take before beginning helps you make better decisions.
You will find that you are completely oblivious to the true time commitment you give to activities that you thought took ‘just a second’.
You may find that there is no clear ‘done’ point to the task. (It is impossible to measure!)
You may find that starting one small task leads to starting a long list of similarly small, insignificant tasks.
You may even find that your ignorance is rude, asking people to wait ‘just a second’ and making them wait half an hour.
With new awareness, seriously consider stopping this activity before you begin.