Quick is a fantasy! When was the last time that you stopped for a quick cup of coffee, took the dog for a quick walk, or ran a quick errand?
The definition of “quick” is occurring in a short time; happening or done rapidly – Wiktionary.
Personally, I think “quick” is a fantasy that we all live in or believe in. Is it because we have lost our concept of time? Or is it because that we live in such a fast paced world and have so much on our plates that we feel we should be able to complete 20 hours of work on only 8?
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been out running errands and thought – oh, I’m going to stop and grab a quick cup of coffee, only to wait in line for a half hour before I get just a plain old cup of joe because everyone else was getting some sort of mocha-java white chocolate caramel latte!
We all live, breathe, work, and earn by the clock and there is seldom any task that you perform that is “quick”.
Haste makes waste and time is money, isn’t that how the sayings go?
Everyone is (or should be) paid for their time. As an employee you are paid by the hour for the work you do for a company. As a consultant, tax professional, what have you – you charge or are paid by the hour for the services and/or good that you provide.
Let’s take QuickBooks for example – There is seldom such a thing as a “quick” QuickBooks question, sure the person asking the question may THINK it’s a quick question (it takes them a short amount of time to ask the question – but that’s not always the case for the person who is providing the answer! For example, I can’t tell you how many times a week our phone rings and someone on the other end says:
- How do I job cost in QuickBooks – OR
- Why aren’t I getting an job costs in QuickBooks
Sure the questions are short, sweet and to the point —- but it could take up to 4 hours to provide the answer!
I define a “quick” question as something I can answer in 2-5 minutes – how about you?