Timing is everything

Life is constructed of hundreds of thousands of events, some of which we see, interact with, and understand, but some of which pass us by without having the faintest clue they even happened.

The timing of events is what determines whether that event will impact our life or not. Timing is absolutely everything and it’s fascinating how much of our life is affected by simply choosing, or not choosing, to do something. It emphasizes the need to keep your eyes open, and be ready to snatch up opportunities when they appear. Most of all, it’s about not being scared to make a positive decision.

What spurred this thought? Last week my mind was transported back to June 2011 when I first met the beautiful Selina, now my fiancée. We met online through a dating website. It was late Friday night, and I was due to fly to Melbourne early the next morning with my sister. It was a figurative toss of the coin about whether to go to bed, or have a quick scroll through a few more profiles on the dating website. I chose to stay up for another 30 minutes. That’s when I saw her. I sent her a message, and then curled up in bed, thinking about my flight and holiday ahead.

Staying up that extra 30 minutes has proven to be the best decision of my life. I touched down at Melbourne airport and as soon as I was reconnected to the digital world, I checked my emails. She’d written back. We continued to email, spoke on the phone once I was back home a few days later, and then met a week later. The rest is history.

I found out soon after that Selina was extremely close to closing her profile on the dating website. Had I not stayed up that night, I may not have seen her the next time I logged on. Or she could have arranged a date with someone else over the weekend and our paths may never have crossed. Of course, had none of this happened, I wouldn’t know any different. You can’t be aware of something that doesn’t happen.

But I’m happy as hell that I made the decision I did, and while it wasn’t a groundbreaking, risk-taking decision to simply stay out of bed for an extra 30 minutes, I look back at it as a really positive decision (I know, hindsight is awesome) and a lesson to take heed of. It was a decision that was made with the pure intention, and hope, that it would result in something positive, and something that could ultimately change my life. And it did.

Whenever you get the chance, embrace opportunities and make positive decisions with the intention of improving your life. That sounds really obvious, and I realise it isn’t always easy. But what’s amazing is how often people don’t even give themselves a chance. It has become too easy to say, ‘No’, ‘Maybe next time’, ‘I can’t be bothered’, ‘Nah, I don’t think so’, ‘ I don’t think I could do that’, ‘Hmm, I’m not sure’.

Ask anyone about the regrets they have in life, and they’ll likely be based on simply not doing something, or not doing something earlier in life. Most regrets in life are based on something that could have been done differently if only a decision was made with more positivity, more conviction, and less fear.

‘I don’t know why I didn’t start traveling earlier.’
‘I wish I studied something after I left school.’
‘Why didn’t I ask that boy/girl out when I had a chance?’
‘I should have applied for that job.’

There will always be events in your life that catch you completely off-guard and the timing can be absolutely horrible. Unfortunately there isn’t much you can do about those. You just ride those out until they disappear. But throwing the hands up and saying no when an opportunity arises can be just as damaging as those events that you can’t control.

Timing is every thing so make the most of it. Just one positive decision could change your life forever.