How Is Your Timing?
Rich Kelly, a wonderful man, good friend for years and an inadvertent philosopher, commented ruefully the other day, “If my timing was only ten percent better my life would be completely different.” Rich, that was profound and has kept me thinking about the idea ever since!
Rich is well-respected and has achieved a great deal in his life, so I know he has been in the right place at the right time on many occasions. However, there have almost certainly been situations when things would have turned out much differently if his timing about a decision or an action had been even slightly different. What about you?
In 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow starred in a romantic comedy-drama called, Sliding Doors. We see two versions of her life simultaneously. In one she catches the subway and goes home and in the other the subway doors slide shut just before she can get to them, so she has to wait for the next train. It’s a very interesting movie, (although more likely to appeal to women than to men).
What aspects of your life were the result of arriving or leaving just when you did? What might have been different if you had done one thing instead of another? Have you ever made a decision that seemed insignificant at the time but proved to be colossal in its results?
Several come to mind for me:
*Buying the Rocky Mountain News to look for a used sewing machine and seeing a classified ad that said, “Denver Police Department now hiring policewomen.”
*Walking down a hallway and meeting someone who later came to know someone who knew someone who knew someone else who became a much-needed resource.
*Calling a high school friend on a whim, which resulted in a newspaper story and unexpected contacts that enriched my life tremendously.
Most of the results of timing in our lives are never known–we simply live with them. Nevertheless, it’s fascinating to track back and consider pivotal moments, especially when you realize one of them could happen today.
