Five minutes

Posted

"Please, just five more minutes."

Who among us hasn't asked for that favor when the morning alarm clock rings? Only problem is, I seem to need that 300 seconds for a lot more reasons than a self-imposed snooze.

As I add more and more activities to my day I find incredible value in five minutes more.

Although typically obsessive and early, there are lots of times that the traffic prevents me from getting to the promised appointment on time and I wish I had left just five minutes sooner.

Then there are other times, while respecting the timetable we have given the client and the built-in time for the boss to review the work, I always want those extra five minutes just to be sure. I'm certain that perspective comes from working with a creative director who believed that late is better as long as the advertising that required the extra time is extra incredible.

Anytime I lose a few minutes because I poorly estimated the time it will take to do a job it feels like that loss follows me throughout the entire day. No matter what I do, I can't make it up and hope for a do-over.

And then there are those tough five minutes — completing a medical test and waiting for the consult. The time when you must talk with someone and it will take them five minutes to call you back. The minutes lapsed during an airplane's takeoff and landing. And the minutes that click by when a child's curfew is over and there's no word or knowledge of his/her whereabouts.

Even the five minutes when I ask my husband to read my article in order to give me his frank perspective are grueling.

The moral of the story?

I can deal with "Do you have a minute?"

I even respect the five-second rule.

But if I could get a few extra "five minutes please," I'd really be in a happy space.

A contributing writer to the Herald since 2012, Lauren Lev is an East Meadow resident and a direct marketing/advertising executive who teaches advertising and marketing communications courses at the Fashion Institute of Technology/SUNY, LIU Post and SUNY Old Westbury.