Probably we all experience it more frequently
than we would want to. Not only at work but also in our private lives,
waiting is something we would like to avoid and not always it is possible.
One of those is airport wait. It extends our traveling time immensely.
Actually, in some cases, for domestic flights, once and again I have
wished I rather be driving.
Laptops are doing a great job here, actually I
am writing this at the brand new terminal 2 of the Mexico City Airport, a
great facility without a doubt. Stores and restaurants are abundant, and
that competition makes quality, service, and prices be highly competitive.
Back in the consideration of "waiting
time", what we need to do about airport, or "doctor
appointment" waiting time as well as those few minutes we may have to
wait in the car to be just in time for an appointment, is to have a couple
of projects waiting for us in the computer. Sometimes we can even go
on-line and have some interactions with our offices, customers, and
suppliers, as well as relatives that otherwise we will never have a time
to write them a line. One more idea that I frequently put into practice is
to have a book handy. These two and some other ideas that may occur to
you, may represent an opportunity to use those unavoidable wastes of time.
In the past, as I always have been into some
kind of sales, I would approach someone to establish some conversation or
networking. Today most prospective customers are not approachable, since
they’re either fully engaged with their computers or seem to be talking
to themselves with the justification of their blue-tooth earpieces.
Time is the only non-renewable resource of the
human being, we have some allotment for our lifetime and when it is gone
it is gone for good. No matter how wealthy or important a person may be,
when their time is gone nothing among their assets can be traded for some
more time.
There are several professional books we all
can use for those cases: all of Steve Covey’s, many Leadership titles, a
light one that comes to mind is "Engaged Leadership", like a
novel with a series of great leadership examples; The Exceptional
Presenter is other of my favorites, it is always in my car. Some other
people may find other subjects of their interest. Whatever you decide to
do, please don’t just "wait". Each and every day in the
airports in America and the World, according to the Department of
Transportation, 2'100'000,000 (yes! 2.1 billion) people wait an average of
47 minutes for their airplane to take off. That is a total of
1'645'000,000 (1.6 billion!) man-(and woman)-hours per day; 187,785 years
of human life each year! Just imagine the potential that a nation can
accumulate if just a fraction of that time is devoted to improving our
skills or sharing some of our information, experience and knowledge!
One thing I have discovered in this
"waiting time utilization campaign" is that a second or third
reading of a book that was just gathering dust in my shelves, can still
bring new juice into my life, and so can your books do for you. Why is
that? Read "Previous read books still can teach you some..."
