Dang! Is Timing Really Everything?
If there is one regret most of us have, it’s “bad timing”…
If we’re honest, we’ve all spent time regretting the timing of events in our lives. If only we bought Apple stock when it was $22 a share (in 1980 at its IPO). That one share — in part due to stock splits — would be worth ~ $28K today. If only we had sold our Enron stock when it was $90.75 a share on August 23rd, 2000 instead of later when it dropped to 12 cents (on January 11th, 2002). Don’t even get me started on Bitcoin!
We can think of times when we should have moved faster or moved slower, made a decision to speak up in the moment or hold our tongue. We are time-bound creatures with no way to avoid that reality — but we can do something about the regret.
We can avoid regret about “bad timing” by becoming more conscious of time in general. It’s very common to feel like we have nothing to say about “timing” — it just happens to us, doesn’t it? In reality, most “bad timing” regret is created by our unwillingness to be intentional about how time bound our decisions are. Let me give you a few examples — and I will apologize in advance if they seem clichéd or maudlin.
