In their wonderful book Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter Dan Ariely and Jeff Kreisler talk about the frustration that a consumer experiences when it feels a bit too easy for a service provider to solve their problem. For example if you call a locksmith and the locksmith takes only a few seconds to open your door but charges you a standard hourly rate. However, if said locksmith struggles for 55 minutes and breaks into a sweat we don’t feel so aggrieved. What is really going on here? Basically, it has potentially taken years and multiple hours of training for that locksmith to be able to resolve your issue within a few seconds. You are not paying based on how long it takes to resolve your problem. But rather on the ability of the locksmith to diagnose your problem and resolve it, which in turn is based on what I assume is significant investment of time and effort into their trade. It has taken years for the guy to figure out how to break into your house. Now he is very good at it and it doesn’t take too long.
Like a good monetary investment, knowledge and experience compound over time. It is not about repetition, but rather about the ability to draw insight and action based on having experienced multiple scenarios over a period of time. Because of the multiple relationships between multiple new pieces of knowledge, our knowledge feels to me more like compounding that addition. This may explain why so many CEO’s are such voracious readers. They are able to connect the dots between multiple pieces of information in seemingly unrelated topics for the benefit of their businesses.
The theme I am exploring today is, therefore, all about timing. There will be a time where your knowledge and experience are perfect for you to pursue a certain activity. Using the locksmith analogy, there will be time where you are ready to unlock a particular opportunity. Where it feels effortless and natural. Where you are the BEST possible person to do this. In many cases this could prove to be a very long wait, while you look out of the window and it seems all your peers are experiencing their “moments” a lot sooner. In frustration what typically happens is that in order to keep up we pursue things we are neither qualified for nor ready for. We take the Branson approach of putting up our hands and figuring it all out later. We forget that Branson is a billionaire and owns a private island. With respect, his current level of risk-taking and our’s are significantly different. Please forgive me for saying this if you also own a private island. I propose a different approach of rather choosing and by implication, waiting for the right moment. Approaching life knowing that the moment will present itself and that we want to be ready when it does.
What is your aspiration? To be an entrepreneur? To be a business leader? To be financially independent? To assist those int he community in need? There is a high probability that you can achieve this aspiration. But does it have to be today and does it have to be in the immediate opportunity sitting in front of you? If it is the wrong timing you could waste precious resources and time on something that ultimately adds little value to your life. In the meantime, however, we have to continue with the compounding of knowledge and experience so we have a much wider pool of opportunities to draw upon. We have to keep creating moments, we don’t sit back idly and wait. So that when that the moment arises we can rise to it and grab it with both hands. So we can ultimately own it.
As with many topics professional sports provides dozens of examples we can apply to real life and one that comes to my mind is that of Diego Forlán. It was huge privilege watching the Uruguayan play soccer live during the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa. He ended the tournament as joint top scorer and Golden Ball award winner as the best player during the tournament. It was so well deserved, as Forlan was skillful, entertaining and tactically astute. Real football poetry in motion. He was magnificent.
The journey to being the best player in the World Cup was not a simple one for Forlan. In 2002 he signed for Manchester United, although by 2004 Sir Alex Ferguson had already sold him to Villarreal in the Spanish league. To outsiders, Forlan had failed to make any impact at Manchester United despite high expectations and his incredible talent. This was not going to be his moment. In the season post his departure from Manchester United Forlan had an outstanding season and won the European Golden Shoe award for being the top scorer in Europe. He won this award again in 2009 for his performance that season. His star was rising, however, this was still not his moment. A year later on the world stage of the FIFA World Cup, Forlan was finally able to choose his moment. This World Cup tournament was Diego Forlan’s moment and he owned it. It didn’t matter who was achieving accolades in 2004 when Manchester United sold him. That was not his moment as his moment was to come 6 years later.The FIFA World Cup 2010 was his moment.
Remember, when your turn comes, to be like Diego too and choose your moment.
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