In the world of time management there are things said to us that we accept as truth and we act accordingly. The problem is sometimes they are not truths. They are lies and as we believe them, they waste our time.

Those who speak these lies to us are not bad people at all because you and I are among them. We all speak these untruths to one another from time to time. So let's not wish harm and doom to the liars. Let's avoid the time traps their lying may cause us.

Here are the eleven biggest lies to shield yourself from.

"This will just take a minute." Has anyone grabbed you with that line? Does it ever "just take a minute"? Rarely. What typically "just takes a minute," generally consumes several minutes and more.

Next time, when someone asks for your time and assures you, "This will just take a minute," tell them, "I am more than willing to help, but I can only give you five minutes."

"I need this as soon as possible." More accurately -- they need it by a certain date and time. So ask them for specifically when they will be needing it. As soon as possible could mean now, tomorrow, or next week depending on the project. Its always best to clarify.

"I want this now." They may want it now, but do they need it now? You have deadlines of your own. Tell them that you are not sure you can do it just this second, but when is the latest time they could take it?

"It's not about the money." It's always about the money.

"This is the best (investment, business opportunity, book, movie, restaurant, boss, job, etc.) you'll ever find." Best is purely subjective.

"I can get this done in an hour." Ever notice how it almost always takes twice as long to get something done as what you thought it would? That's because few of us have a very accurate internal clock to estimate the time required to complete most tasks.

"He's a late person." While this may be true, most people who are "late" have a consistency about their behavior. Learn to recognize this behavior -- and if they won't modify, then you'll have to. If they show up at 8:20 for an 8:00 meeting with you week after week. Plan on them being there for your "8:20" meeting and use the other 20 minutes productively.

"No Cost." You don't get "nothing for nothing." Everything has a cost. It may not cost you your money, but more often it will be your time and more of it than what you are getting in return for "no cost."

"By the time I show him how to do it I could just as quickly have done it myself." If it's a one-time proposition this may be true. It doesn't make a lot of sense to spend an hour to show someone how to do a task that takes only 10 minutes, unless this is one of their new job responsibilities.

If that one hour investment will save you 10 minutes every day, then in about a week you have your investment back and now you have a dividend of 10 extra minutes a day. What if you do that six different times? You get an extra hour in your day and 365 hours over the next year.

"This is going to be really hard." What is hard makes us stronger, but we tend to think things will be worse than they are.

Mr. Smith, my high school principal, taught me that 95 percent of what we fear coming at us will never hit us. It will ditch itself before it ever reaches us. And as to the remaining 5 percent, God has given us the tools to deal with it.

Published: July 18, 2006

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Dr. Donald E. Wetmore has been a full-time Professional Speaker for the last 20 years having made over 2,000 presentations to audiences from around the Globe. He is available to conduct his dynamic Time Management Seminars at your location helping your people get more done in less time, with less stress. Don's programs are entertaining, fast paced, and filed with practical, common sense ideas. His seminars are typically rated as "the best I have ever attended." For more information, contact Don via e-mail at or call him at (203) 386-8062 and (800) 969-3773.