PRECIOUS TIME

A Shocking Calculation of Wasted Time

I calculated, and since then I write and speak much less.

Anonymous portrait of Blaise Pascal (17th century)
Photo source: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) | Edited by József Manhertz
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“I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter.’”— Blais Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (1623–1662)

The multiplier effect of your time

The reading time of your story (and your responsibility) is multiplied by the number of readers.

I realized this when I gave a lecture in front of 1,200 people. If only 4 minutes of my 60 minutes of stage time were unnecessary, then I wasted a total of 4800 minutes of my audience’s life. 80 hours! (Probably more.)

Snapshot of my performance on stage on January 29, 2010. | Image supplied by the author

Attention is a treasure

Your spoken or written communication should be precise and short. Give yourself plenty of time to prepare. Those who pay attention to you give time of their lives.

Statistics are just numbers, but behind them are people like you.

What will you prepare more thoroughly from now on to save other people’s time?

The Lost Communication Trainer Is Back as a Writer of Medium