How to Make the Most of Time While You Wait

Editor's note: If you have a pressing business-etiquette question for Miss Conduct, please send her an email.

Punctuality may be the soul of business for FedEx, UPS and trapeze artists, but on the inside of most businesses it feels like we wait and wait and hurry-up-and-wait.

We wait for an email response, then await return calls to arrange a meeting. We wait in the waiting room, then we wait in the meeting room, then wait for the deal to come through. The question is, how can you make all this waiting work for you?

The Benefits of Waiting

The short answer is indeed that good things come to those who wait. ...