We have talked about time wasters and time killers; we have talked about getting organized and we have talked about prioritizing. But one vital point that we yet to talk about is how much time each one of us take for our various activities. We are truthful people aren't we? We wouldn't dream of lying and telling false hoods. But often in our daily life, when it comes to matters of time in particular, we do tell a lot of lies. How many times have we made statements like…?

“I'll be with you in a minute”

“I need only a moment to get dressed”

“Just give me two minutes, all I have to do is take a shower and get dressed.”

“I'm on my way; I'll be there I a couple of minutes.”

Do these words sound familiar? We all say them and we never do what we promise. That is not because we are habitual liars who get our kicks by lying though our teeth. It's simply because we do not realize the actual time that we take for the activities that we do.

For instance, how long do you need to have a shower? I do not mean the exact time down to the microsecond. I just want a general idea. Maybe it's 5 minutes, maybe 10. But you should understand that different people need and take different times to take a shower. The word itself is miss-leading.

When you say “I need a shower,” what exactly are you talking about? If you mean to just step under the shower with your clothes off, turn on the shower, soak yourself thoroughly and dry yourself after turning off the shower then you are right. But if you are talking about shampooing and conditioning your hair, using soap and body shampoo on your body, then it is a different story. This is going to take you nearly half an hour and is not a ‘shower' but an elaborate bath.

So you should be well aware of what you are talking about and mention the time accordingly.

Just like the shower, you should have a good estimate of the time that you need for various activities.

Let's see whether you know how much time you need for the following actions.

10 actions done at every office

1. How much time do you take to draft a short letter?
2. How much time do you take to type a short letter?
3. How much time can you take for a paper presentation?
4. How much time can you take for a seminar?
5. How much time can you keep talking to a group of people?
6. How much time do you need for a smoke?
7. How much time do you need to have a cup of coffee?
8. How much time do you take to sign a paper?
9. How much time do you need to read a printed document A4 size?

10.  How much time do you need to send an email?

No, no I cannot give you the correct answers. There are no correct answers as such. It varies form person from person. I like my coffee cold. That means I let it stand for five minutes before I drink it. And then I just gulp it down in 5 seconds. But that is by no way the right way to drink coffee and I cannot tell you that the correct time for a coffee break is 5 minutes 5 seconds.

That was not the purpose of this exercise anyway. What we were trying to do is to find out whether you have a more or less good idea about how long you take for each of the above mentioned actions. If you do, then you are quite time conscious. If you do not, then you had better start working on it with a stop watch right away.

Once you understand how long you take for the various activities that comprise your work, you will be a better position to understand how long you will need to accomplish tasks and naturally you will be able to manage your time better.

But one thing that we may miss out here is the most important question. And that is

How long do you spend talking to people?

This question clinches it all; because in most cases, that is where all the time goes. I don't mean that you should behave like a hermit and stay away from people. But ask yourself if you really talk too much.

Or a better way would be to try and remember everything you say the next time you talk to somebody. You could even try carrying a voice recorder in your pocket and press the record button the moment you start speaking.

And once you get back to your own ground, replay the tape and hear what you said. What you have to do is find out if there is a shorter and faster way of saying what you did. If there is a shorter way, then certainly you do spend a lot of time talking.

Work on that and try to bring down the time you spend talking because that is where all our time goes. We have absolutely no idea how much time is lost by mere parleying.

Such a self analysis is certainly a positive step towards effective time management.