Ultimately, timing and the things you can’t control—like your decision-making—will determine whether you succeed or fail. The majority of people struggle greatly with making decisions. However, it’s something you can improve on. Now let’s address the more difficult dynamic that is beyond our control: timing.

In life, everything comes down to time. Correct?

Sometimes We Just Can’t Predict the Future
There are always instances where you wish you could go back in time and say, “If only I knew then what I know now.” Those are undoubtedly timing problems. However, it is difficult to forecast the future, therefore timing is a challenge.

Palm Pilot after Apple Newton
Ever worked incredibly hard on an idea you had, only to have it fail miserably? However, after a few years, someone else steals the idea and makes millions of dollars.

Imagine it is 1992, and Scully is carrying an Apple Newton Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) as he exits the stage at the Chicago CES. Did you have one? I didn’t. However, in 1996, Palm Computing released the PDA, and I was undoubtedly the owner of one. Read more about it here.

The timing was perfect.

No one can predict when we’ll be ready and conditions will be perfect.

We’re Not All Victims of Timing
I adore stand-up humour. I enjoy seeing them at work. More than anything, though, I enjoy seeing how they create their work by going behind the scenes.

This video, which shows Jerry Seinfeld writing a joke, may be familiar to you.

I like how much attention to timing, speed, and his statement that he would remove syllables from sentences to tighten the rhythm are highlighted as he discusses his art.

Put another way, stand-up comedians don’t believe that time is something they have no control over. On the contrary. They have complete control over timing.

My point is simple – some creators (and some industries) have realized that they aren’t victims of timing.

So what does that mean? Can we control timing enough to make it work for us?

The Timing Mistake We Often Make
I was preparing to buy my first house when I was 27. I was ready to move out of rental housing, had a solid career, and lived in Northern California.

What is the first house you purchased?

1400 square feet was mine. Furthermore, it was far bigger than my flat and more than I needed. I was ecstatic.

But just think for a moment, Chris, you’re going to have two kids and you’ll need an office so you can work from home. You will require an extra piano room since your future wife will want to play the piano.

What if I had stated that I required 3,500 square feet as opposed to 1,400? Since I wanted to be certain that my current circumstances would function for my future expectation.

In 1997, I made my first house purchase. We’re almost done with 2022 now. You have no idea how ridiculous it would be to expect the house I selected in 1997 to provide for all of my needs twenty-five years later.

If you have ever launched a new business, let’s make it more relatable for you. Consider the initial few months of that trip. Did you start by coming up with a fresh name for your company and then hire someone to design a logo? Have you ordered any t-shirts or caps? How about stickers?

In order to feel professional, a lot of people I know dive headfirst into creating logos, designs, and even custom branded apparel. And I’m sure that others can clarify all of its rationally.
However, these are signs of the same issue.

We don’t know if our company name is appropriate or will stick around. We don’t know if the colors we selected were a terrible mistake or right on. There are many things we don’t know until the business is up and running and we have a clear picture of who our competitors are.
It’s easy to confuse movement with progress.
We convince ourselves that we want to do things (like purchasing a home or launching a business) perfectly. Thus, we begin propelling ourselves ahead. Believing we’re taking on the correct challenges and, above all, being happy that we’re making progress. However, advancement and mobility are not the same.
Premature movement is one of the most frequent errors I observe. I’m referring specifically to premature optimization. I think that’s the worst timing error that most people make. It’s the kind of planning where you say, “I won’t start with 1400 right now because I plan to need 3500 square feet someday.” Allow me to demonstrate how and why this timing error is frequently made. After that, we’ll discuss how to avoid it.

What is Premature Optimization?
I’ve worked with, mentored, and given advice to hundreds of business owners over the past 20 years, primarily in the technology sector. Nearly all of them have made the mistake of optimizing too soon. It’s without a doubt the greatest and worst timing error I’ve ever witnessed.

What then is it? To put it plainly, it refers to taking action ahead of time. An alternative phrase for it would be “solving an issue before it becomes an issue.”

Here’s an alternative interpretation of the term: it refers to the unreasonable desire to act now in order to solve a hypothetical future issue.

Not that it sounds cruel. So picture me defining this, not for you, but for myself. I have more power within me. especially when you understand that there are things about me that make me keep making the same mistakes repeatedly and that I will undoubtedly repeat them if I don’t learn this lesson.

To start, how many of us are able to foresee the future? Not one. Correct? Let’s just concede that we will never be able to address some future issues because we will never be able to see around those corners.

You may understand why I might think premature optimization is illogical already. thus it won’t even function in most circumstances.

You say, “But some problems are predictable, Chris,” and I can hear you right now. You’re correct, too. Let’s move there now. I don’t disagree that you may strive to anticipate and solve some problems.

However, we now need to consider opportunity cost. If we invest time in anticipating a scenario that is genuinely likely to occur and in trying to find a solution before it does, that time is spent at the expense of whatever we were unable to complete because we were attempting to tackle an issue that will arise in the future.

You begin to understand why tackling possible future problems isn’t the best use of your current context when you realize that the cost of doing something includes not only the cost of the effort but also the cost of what you missed out on (how you could have applied the same effort for a different result).

Not only that, but our past experiences frequently place restrictions on our ability to forecast the future.

Here’s what I know:
A problem we understand is more attractive than one we don’t.
Action (or movement) can feel like progress, even if it’s not.
It’s really easy to lie to ourselves about anything (everything).
We rarely do the math on opportunity cost.
Getting past premature optimization is a function of better questions.

Asking the Right Questions
In the field of technology, we frequently inquire as to whether something is feasible. Here’s a short response to end the discussion. Yes, is always the response. Naturally, there’s always something that can be done. You can accomplish almost anything with enough time and money (that feels unattainable without the time and money).

Posing the question “Can we?” is not synonymous with “should we?”

You shouldn’t always build something just because you can. Furthermore, it doesn’t always follow that you should (or that you will even need it in the future) make something you might need in the future just because you can.

New product ideas thrill us because we think someone might find them appealing and purchase them.

It is incorrect to inquire about “will someone” as opposed to “how many someone’s.”
It takes a lot of work and a combination of science and art to size a market. To reap the rewards of our labour, however, we must become proficient at performing the difficult tasks.

Understanding how to size a market and divide it into its many micro-segments is essential for determining how much demand there is. It will also help you map out your strategy as you determine how to approach a market.

If someone is recommending a course of action that seems like premature optimisation, I ask the following final question:

What would happen if we took no action at this time?

If the response is urgent and significant, premature optimisation is probably not the cause. We might not have time to wait.

However, I’ll probably apply the brakes and wait if delaying the decision by six months, a year, or five years won’t have any immediate negative effects or be extremely costly (as stated in detail).

Additionally, keep in mind that “what does it cost if we do make that change?” is the corollary to this. because we occasionally intervene and try to improve things only to find that we’ve made them worse.

Getting Timing Right

I watch NFL games in our cigar lounge with my friends. Perhaps you’ve been observing the games as well and have spotted our possessions. The amount of pharmaceutical advertisements seems to have increased significantly this year.
The portion in every drug commercial when they list potential side effects makes us laugh since some of them, like death, are worse than the symptoms they are meant to treat, like a rash on your arm.

However, a medicine must pass multiple testing phases before it can be sold. An initial test is performed to ensure that no animals will be harmed. There are then tests to see whether it truly provides a cure. They then assess if it is appreciably superior to the present set of solutions for a given problem.

Accurate timing has nothing to do with timing.

It depends on the rigour and method.

Jerry is talking about more than just being humorous when he discusses creating a joke. He is discussing the order of the chuckles.

Returning to the rap bars video, they dissect the method and attention to detail that these rappers use to create their rhymes.

Pharmaceutical corporations don’t use hope as a strategy or try to guess anything when you consider the amount of time and money it takes to get a medication to market.

Method and precision.

This is something I often tell my coaching clients. As a matter of fact, I had to inform one of them recently that this piece was not about them and would soon be published.
They are aware that enforcing procedure and structure within the system will shield them from making snap judgements based only on their “gut.” They understand that we must use wisdom and strategy in lieu of selecting initiatives that just “feel” appropriate.

But without method and rigour, you can’t get there. Adopting a proactive strategy also results in fewer errors, lower expenses, and more readiness and preparedness for dealing with those last-minute problems that actually call for reactiveness.