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This fine-tuning will fast forward our timing.
A close friend of mine looked unusually withdrawn and quiet during a get-together last week. A little bit of probing brought his feelings out. “Things are not happening fast enough… hmm,” he sighed, spilling out the reason for the lost look. With all that he was intending, coupled with planning and doing, he expects more results to happen and much faster.
We have a tendency to assume that we have figured it out – when it should happen, how it should happen, with whom it should happen, etc. We are comfortable when we are in control of our lives. We do have complete control over stating our ambitions and following the well laid out plan to achieve it, but do we have complete control over ‘by when’ we will achieve it?
At times, life has a way of throwing a googly when we least expect it. As in my friend’s case, the outcome could be delayed; we may not be where we think we should be – economically or socially or professionally or creatively or even in relationships… The issue of speed has become central in our society, which is groomed on fast-tracks and fast music. When our mental timing diagram does not match with what is happening in reality, a feeling of inadequacy crops up and every inadequacy disturbs us.
“Timing is everything in life” is something that we hear often. What is timing? The dictionary meaning of timing is “the ability to select the precise moment for doing something for optimum effect.” It’s that special moment in time when everything seems to come together perfectly. Timing differentiates a good joke from a bad one. Haven’t you noticed this? Tell a joke at the right time and it’s hilarious; tell the same joke at the wrong time and it falls flat! Timing is everything in cooking too, especially when a novice like me attempts to make vada in hot oil. If you take out the vada a little before the time, the insides of it will still be sticky with uncooked dough oozing out; if you take it out a little later, it is all black and burnt, fit to be in the bin.
I look back on the day I met my husband and feel two things most of all – grateful and lucky. Does this mean that finding the love of your life is all about timing? How many days before the release of the product should we launch the social media campaign? On winning the toss in the cricket match, should we choose to bat or bowl? Should we invest in the stock market now or wait for an opportune moment? ‘When to stop or end a speech?’ is crucial for an orator, which is nothing but timing. Diagnosing a disease early or too late will determine life or death, which again points to timing. The timing of your choice can change the directions of your life.
If timing is everything in life, are we capable of creating timing diagrams for our life? How do we include it in our plan to succeed? How do we understand this tool called timing? Does timing include ‘time’ invested on that specific activity? Does more time invested translate to better judgement and hence better timing sense to act?
“I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it,” says Thomas Jefferson. In other words, one major difference between those who have got their timing right and who have not yet is the investment of time and sincere effort the former puts in towards their pursuit. The more time and consistent effort they put in, the more skilled and mature they become in their sense of timing. By doing this, one’s ability to pick up on the little cues and signals will strengthen and build confidence to say that the timing ‘feels right’.
In other words, more number of times we attempt to make vada, the better we become at getting it fried right and crispy brown. The same holds good for cracking a joke or stock market investment. The more time we invest on building a relationship, the better it becomes; that is when you feel you have found your love… The more we speak, the more experienced we become in speaking, and we learn when to stop too!
So I believe that ‘timing’ is directly proportional to the ‘time’ invested. Timing is always right to learn and grow, isn’t it?
