Timing is everything!

One of the few things in life practically true without exception is that timing is everything, whether in business, love or life in general - getting the timing right makes all the difference.

The case is firmly established in business and otherwise; all you have to do is look at a few almost random examples:

1. The oil trader in the 1970s who had a ship load of oil (2,000,000 barrels) just launched on the high seas when of the two major crises struck and was offered $2/barrel premium within two days, but turned it down. After just over two weeks he was offered $20/barrel, sold and became a legend (and immensely wealthy) because oil prices continued to rise quickly. Yet if the crisis had been resolved the price would have fallen and he would have possibly even sustained a loss, forsaking the opportunity to make a quick 4 million dollars... Timing!
2. The travel agency launched a short time before the 9/11 events unfolded, shocking the world and putting a break on travelling to and from the USA for a while - they were out of business within less than a year, having done nothing wrong... Timing!
3. A project to build a grand hotel and spa facility in Central Greece of a standard to rival Baden Baden, several years in the planning and making, which was completed just on the eve of the 2nd World War and never opened. The original buildings are now wrecked but can still be viewed within the grounds of the since rebuilt spa and adjoining modern hotel... Timing!
4. Meeting one of the finest women of one's life at 19, when you are just in the middle of learning about the world and exploring yourself and sex, when settling down to a monogamous existence represents an unthinkable sacrifice, so you pass and have never married... Timing!
5. Relaxing too soon and losing concentration coming out of the final corner while leading a motorsport race, within site of the chequered flag because you think "I've won", missing a gear change and nearly blowing not only your engine but the race... Timing!
6. You're walking down the street and a few seconds after you have passed under a balcony a heavy chunk of masonry falls and shatters on the pavement... Timing!

I can go on and on and on, for there are countless examples, many of which are well-known. When (the timing, the timing) you say or do things is incredibly important; you need to think about it carefully and try to plan as meticulously as possible. Much in the same way that in retail they say that the three main ingredients are location, location and location, timing is the unseen and often unconsidered factor which can change everything.

In the late 1970s and early eighties IBM was one of the most powerful companies in the world, virtually controlling the computer market through its dominant position in mainframes. When it entered personal computing the machines using the system it championed but made by other manufacturers were called IBM-compatible and were expected to dominate; today the mainframe market has all but disappeared, IBM does not make personal computers and is mainly a software company. While still relatively important it is no longer considered the 'barometer of the stock market' and others are making the running concerning the future of computing. All this came about because it failed to realise that importance was shifting from hardware to software and did not impose limitations on Microsoft when it commissioned and paid for MS-DOS. A few years earlier when mainframe computers ruled the roost that may not have mattered, but it did then... Timing!

The saddest but most significant part of all this is that the main factor in getting the timing absolutely spot-on is luck! We have no certain way of knowing what may happen next, even if we consider all the factors involved, no way at all. Even the oracle at Delphi, clever though it undoubtedly was, would have a tough time predicting the future, the prophets of this or that religion also... We only have to look at the considered predictions of the sixties and seventies describing the future in the year 2000, the little fish-bowl helmets we were all meant to have been wearing by now, riding across the sky on our flying scooters... ha!

And no, chummies, this does not mean that we can sit on our fat (or skinny, makes no difference) backsides and expect luck to do our work for us.