How "give me a sec" Impacts Time

When they were young, my nephews would ask, "Aunt Janice, can you read a story?" If I was doing something else at the time, I would say, "In just a sec." Their response was, "One second. Okay, it's time." We'd have a laugh and eventually I would read the story.

The thing is, we all have quick responses to inquiries. "Give me a sec" may be one of your automatic responses. Reality is that one second isn't long enough to do anything. While we know that, what we may not realize is that to a certain extent we internalize the intention of the statement: "I'll be with you very quickly." When in fact, it might be between five to fifteen minutes or even longer before we are ready.

Where am I going with this? If someone says they're ready to leave for lunch and you say "just a sec" but in fact it is 10 minutes before you get to the car, not only have you wasted their time but now you might have to wait in a longer lunch line. You're in your office finishing up a presentation for a meeting. A colleague stops by your door and says, "Are you ready?" You respond, "Give me a sec." After five minutes the person might be frustrated and say they'll see you at the meeting. Ten minutes after that, the other people in the meeting are wondering where you are and are irritated that they have to wait for your presentation.

While "give me a sec" seems benign, in reality it can impact your schedule by inflating the amount of time you think you have or need to complete a task. I'm not saying that you need to say "I'll be with you in seven minutes, 42 seconds." I'm suggesting that you think through the amount of time actually needed (usually time-and-a-half what you think!) and adjust expectations accordingly.

Need a little help estimating time for tasks and scheduling? Minding Your Matters® provides a variety of time management services.