Give me five minutes!

How many times a day we hear that phrase or use it ourselves!

Its usually a signal that one person is busy doing something else but recognizes that another has requested attention. In other words "Give me five minutes" here means I'll soon be finished and and will then be able to attend to your request.

Sometimes "Give me 5 minutes" means I've recognized your request to attend to something, and if you give me 5 minutes I'll be able to sort it out for you.

On other occasions "give me five minutes" may actually be the request for attention itself – as when a visitor pops their head around the door to your office and says:

"Give me five minutes?"

Or in response to a challenging question someone answers "Give me 5 minutes and I'll explain...."

The critical essence part of the phrase is that it denotes a short time. Not hours, not days, or weeks. Just 5 minutes.

Even the face of a clock is divided into 5 minutes.

This book takes a lighthearted but thought-provoking look at the different things we can do to fill five minutes.....And challenges the reader to compile his or her own list!