It’s All About Timing

      “Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over.” - Octavia Butler.

      Pretty much everything in life is about timing. The simplest example would be when we were kids. How many times have you asked your parents “can I have more money?” and they would turn you down (I know mine did, thousands and thousands of times).

      What I’ve come to realize after several trials and errors is that it’s all about picking the right moment. Thus it is safe to say that the selecting of the perfect time for doing or saying something in order to accomplish the desired effect is essential for our plans to work out (after a while though you start to realize that it’s never a good time to ask your parents for money).

      Yes! It’s all about choosing the right moment. After a certain period of time, “the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable…”

      So what it is essentially is having enough patience right? Nope, not completely true. Sometimes you can wait too long for something to happen, and before you know it, it’s too late. “Things may come to those who wait, but only things left by those who hustle.” – Abraham Lincoln.

      Sometimes waiting is a good thing to do (who knows, maybe more opportunities will emerge if you don’t rush through things). A friend of mine once bought a shirt only to find out that on the next day there was a 50% sale (no worries though, he got his money back… smart man!)

      But there are other situations where you have to take immediate action, especially if you’re action is to right a wrong. Of course that doesn’t mean rushing through life without thinking things through.

      In life, I’ve come to realize that there’s a thin line separating between waiting for the right moment and rushing to take an action. Acting before you have all the facts needed could certainly end up with you making a complete fool of yourself. 

      On the other hand, you can’t always wait for the perfect conditions.  “Goal setting is a matter of balancing timing against available resources. Opportunities are easily lost while waiting for perfect conditions.” - Gary Ryan Blair.

      One can certainly find balance between the two if they’re thoughtful and observant. Even if immediate action is needed you can always pause for a few minutes to analyze the situation.

      We should always take some time to relax, give our brain time to process things. But we shouldn’t turn it into an extreme (becoming lazy and letting things pass by).

      Because as Patrick Wilson once said: “The way you deal with a scare is the way you deal with a laugh. The timing has to be perfect. When you're dealing with fear or laughter - emotions that happen spontaneously - you hope it's working. But in the moment, you really have no idea.”