We use the word?“Soon”?all the time.??Soon?not only means different things to different people, but it also has different meanings related to the context of its usage.?Here are just a few uses of?“Soon”.?I’m sure you can think of many more.
- When it’s time to leave the house and you call your family, someone says,?“I’ll be ready Soon”.?This usually means about five to ten minutes.
- Watching the recent political races, the news stations (FOX, CNN, etc) all say, the results are coming?“Soon”.?This turned out to be about 3-4 hours.?Then they say,?“Very Soon”, which turned out to be about 2-3 hours.?Then they say?“any moment now”, which turned out to be over an hour.??Talk about holding an audience!
- When it’s about fixing something, and someone says,?“I’ll fix that soon”, that is most likely measured in days, maybe weeks.
- Let’s go on a vacation?“Soon”?... usually means within six months.
- When you’re sitting at a restaurant waiting for your food to be delivered and the server comes over and says,?“I’m sorry, the kitchen is a little backed up,?but your food will be out Soon”.??This usually means between 10 and 15 minutes. If that time passes the server comes back and says?“the food will be out Very Soon”?… another 5-10 minutes
- Your car panel says?“change oil Soon”.?This is an interesting variation as it’s a function of miles, so if you travel 50 miles a day,?Soon?usually means within a week or two.?If you drive infrequently,?Soon?can mean a month or two.
- You’re waiting for your flight and the inbound flight is delayed.?The airline people announce that the plane will be there?Soon or Very Soon.?Of course, you can track the inbound flight, which is sometimes 20 minutes away, plus another 10 minutes to taxi to the gate, so?Soon?could mean 30 minutes.
- Before you board a plane they start announcing that you’ll be?boarding Soon.?This usually means about 5-10 minutes.
- Lastly .. you tell your kids?“Santa will be here Soon”.??This means when they fall asleep.
We use words like Soon, Very Soon, and Momentarily.??We also sometimes give an exact number such as?“give me 10 seconds”?which usually means about 30-60 seconds.??When we say?“one minute”?this often means 3-5 minutes.?So even when we attempt to be precise, we’re not.
The Takeaway: Before you respond with?“Soon”, take a short moment to think about how much time you really need and how you can be ready, or be finished, or deliver something in that time.?Then you can say a bracketed times slot and deliver to that time.???“It will be ready within 3-4 minutes”?..?and then make it so.
Mike Kallet; CEO HeadScratchers
For information about our on-site and virtual Critical Thinking Workshops, visit?www.headscratchers.com
Mike Kallet, CEO and Principal - Headscratchers LLC Author of Think Smarter - Critical Thinking to Improve Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills.
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