Is it timing or is it just time?

When we miss, it is many times due to the wrong timing? When we hit it – it is because we had the perfect timing – or is it not?

Bill Gross pointed out on TED, that based on his experience Timing is the single most critical parameter influencing a startup’s success. That is obviously hard to argue with. The world is full of inventions that were “ahead of their time” as well as such that simply came too late.

The tank, helicopter, and submarine invented by Leonardo De Vinci in his drawings would be inventions that preceded the right “timing” to name a few. Similarly, the Nokia touch screen phone definitely came too late….

It is pretty easy to point to one product or invention and determine it came out just at the right timing while another did not. But what really is the right timing? Can we know in advance what would make the right timing for our next development? And is it really timing that we will look at?

In many ways, stating that something made it big because it was just the right timing is as useful as saying that the iPhone, Tesla, or Apple made it because they are cool or have a sleek design. There is nothing less scientific or true than that, as there are many cool and sleek things that did not end up being Tesla nor Apple.

When looking at Time and Timing, the theory of Time Economy suggests that the value a company generates equals the total Time or time equivalent resources it generates multiplied by the number of people that can benefit from its offering minus the time and time resources put to it.

That value needs to be compared to alternative offerings. If it is significantly better and for a long enough duration, it can be said that it is a preferable alternative, a winning product! An Ace that came just at the right timing! Whatever phrasing you choose would work out, but the magic is that this offering provides us all the most valuable resource of all – Time.

If someone would invent a Covid-19 vaccine with the same efficacy as BioNTec (Pfizer) or Moderna’s but requiring three shots instead of two and at the same cost and at a point in time where vaccines are in full abundant and accessible to all, you would say that he definitely missed the right timing, being just a few weeks ahead of BioNTec (Pfizer) or Moderna would make him the world’s saver as well as secure him with billions of dollars contracts, but the core difference hiding behind the timing is not timing but time.

Such a vaccine, if not being offered before BioNTec (Pfizer) or Moderna, would end up wasting our time due to the need for an extra shot, but at another point in time (the earlier one), it would have saved us much time and enhanced its quality.

Takeaways?

If you are interested in developing the world’s best products, invent the next biggest invention, or generate any significant successful impact for yourself or for others, do not worry about timing, but look through it to its building blocks – look on the time itself and the economy of time.

Plan for a measurable impactful value that can be measured as time and the quality of time. To learn more, read the first free chapter in our book including Time Economy’s philosophy.

Click here to see how Benjamin Franklin became one of the most prolific and successful people ever lived by practically inventing the principles of time economy.

You can then read on to see how other successful figures – from Elon Musk and Bill Gates to Melinda Gates and Marie Curie used those very same principles. Click here for more info.

Enjoy!