A Lesson in the Importance of Timing...

There are a lot of things that you can do to affect your life and business, and give you a better chance to succeed.  You can practice DCP, hustle, work hard and smart, build great relationships, and even have the right mindset, but there is one thing that is not necessarily in your control that has an impact on your success as well...that is timing.

You can have all of the above, but still fail because of bad timing.  Just ask MySpace (if you even remember or know what it is).  MySpace was essentially Facebook before Facebook.  It was the right idea, but at the wrong time.  The market wasn't ready yet.  The same thing happened with a lot of the initial "box subscription" companies.  There were numerous "Blue Apron's" and Hello Fresh's" long before those came out that failed because it wasn't yet a normal part of life.

Timing doesn't just mean market timing for a product or service, it can be timing in your business for an initiative or in your life for a meaningful change, etc.

In fact, I once lost an A-Player from my team simply because of bad timing.  This person was doing a great job in the role they were in, but they knew, and we knew, that they were capable of much more.  We wanted them to do much more and move into a bigger role.  We had even discussed it with them in the past.

As the business grew and got to a point where the role was finally needed and we could afford it, we (my business partner and I) started putting everything together for the role and making plans to do the promotion with a big celebration, etc.  We started that process 2 months before we were going to announce it to the A-Player.  We had planned to do it in December going into the New Year, but we knew everything in October. 

In late November, the employee came to us with his notice that he was going to leave for an executive level opportunity.  We were literally a week out from promoting them and they were leaving!  We did everything we could to save them.  We explained our plans, the role, and how much time we had put into crafting the perfect role for them - but they had already made the commitment and given their word to the new company.  On top of that, we didn't look that great, because it was after they told us that we came to them with the new role, etc.  

Needless to say, they moved on and we remain friends to this day, but our poor timing cost us a great asset to our company and a great team member.  We could have easily told them what were planning in October when we had done it.  We may not have had all the details, but it would have made a difference to them and probably would have kept them from even taking the interview in the first place.

And that is the lesson, in life and business, there are moments of opportunity when you know the timing is right and you need to seize them - don't hesitate.  Act in spite of the doubt, fear, or even complacency.  Equally as important is to know when the timing isn't right for something and to table it.  That doesn't mean that there won't ever be a time for it, just not now.  The hardest thing to do is to see reality when you have worked really hard on something, or someone, and are emotionally invested in it.  But, it will make a huge difference in your life and business if you can muster the courage to do so.

Be conscious of your timing, especially on big initiatives, and make sure to always be ready to seize the moment when it arrives.