Dealing with time limits

Have you ever been set a time limit to do something?  I had an interesting task to day.  To give a talk that lasted no more than 3 minutes.  It is very easy to waffle on, but when you are restricted to a certain length of time it really makes you think about what it is you are saying and what it really important.  Yes I had loads more to say, but that wasn't the point of the exercise.  Can you learn anything from this?  Well yes.  There may be situations where you have a time limit.  Some public speakers are fined for every minute that they go over from their allocated slot.  This can turn into a hefty fine.  Not only that it shows if you have properly prepared your speech or not.  To get something to the correct time takes practice and plenty of it.