Do you want to improve your time management skills to better manage your time traveling to and from your place of work?

Are you looking for a simple way to manage your time at the office?

One of the easiest ways to get a handle on time, is to simply track how long it takes you to travel from one place to another.

While it may seem like tasks in our daily routine will only take a minute or two, tasks often take longer than expected!

In this post, you’ll find a collection of twenty-nine time management experiments you can try on your way to, at, and from work.

Try any one of these experiments the next time you want to get a grip on arriving on time to meetings, find the fastest route to/from a location, or are curious about the passage of time at the office.

Before setting out to try these experiments, keep the following in mind:

1. Walk or travel at your normal speed. Avoid rushing at all costs. You want to get an accurate reading as to how long it takes you to comfortably, and safely, travel from one place to another.

2. For a more accurate reading, try timing the same experiment for five days straight, then take the average.

3. Many of these experiments are outbound trips. It’s important to note these trips do not account for inbound travel, time spent at your destination, vehicle or people traffic, and other variables of daily life.

4.  Once you’ve conducted your experiments, write down your findings in a notebook, journal, or note-taking app. Think carefully about how you can use your findings to your benefit in your daily routine.

Example: You find out it takes five minutes to travel to the conference room in your building. You make a plan to leave ten minutes early for any meetings held in the conference room, so you can travel comfortably, use the restroom, and get ready for the meeting to begin.

Getting to Work

How long does it take you to:

1. Commute from your home to your place of work

2. Travel from the nearest subway, train, or bus station to your office, cubicle, desk, or workstation

3. Travel from the nearest street or parking lot to your office, cubicle, desk, or workstation

5. Take the stairs from your building’s lobby to your office, cubicle, desk, or workstation

6. Use the elevator from your building’s lobby to your office, cubicle, desk, or workstation

[Also take a look at: How to Shorten Your Commute to Work]

Getting Around the Office

From your office, cubicle, desk, or workstation, how long does it take you to:

7. Travel to the nearest restroom

8. Travel to the furthest restroom

9. Go to the photocopier

10. Go to the mailroom

11. Go to the office supply closet or cabinet

12. Travel to the nearest conference room

13. Travel to the furthest conference room

14. Travel to the closest elevator bank

15.  Travel to the furthest elevator bank

16. Travel to the closest stairwell

17. Travel to the furthest stairwell

18. Travel to your office’s emergency evacuation outdoor meeting space

19. Walk to your supervisor or boss’ office

20. Travel to your nearest colleague’s office, desk, cubicle, or workspace

21. Travel to your furthest colleague’s office, desk, cubicle, or workspace

22. Travel to the break room, kitchen, or cafeteria

[Also take a look at: How to Improve Your Time Management Skills at Work]

On the Way Home

From your office, cubicle, desk, or workstation, how long does it take you to:

23. Travel to your building’s lobby

24. Travel to the nearest coffee shop

25. Travel to the nearest full-service restaurant

26. Travel to the nearest gasoline station or convenience store

27. Travel to the nearest post office

28. Travel to the nearest pharmacy

29. Travel to your home

[Also take a look at: 3 Reasons Why You Should Add Travel Time to Your Calendar]

How about you? Which of these time management experiments are you going to try out this week? If you’ve already conducted your experiments, what were your findings? Join the conversation and leave a comment below!