#002: Living in your very own timezone

“It’s always about timing. If it’s too soon, no one understands. If it’s too late, everyone has forgotten” (Anna Vintour, Vogue Magazine). This applies to everything in life. Did you ever think back and wondered what could have been if you said the right thing at the right moment or what could have been if you met that person at a different time? I have many times.

Time changes conditions for businesses. You could earn millions in 2020 if you produced face masks and you’ll the same if you’re in the airline industry. 2025 however might be the opposite.

On a more personal level, it is your time and place of birth that determines your everything: The way you grow up, your education, basically why you do what you do.

We’re pressured by time

Often, we are pressured by time. We tend to compare ourselves with others to see where we stand and how we are doing. When should I graduate? When should I start a career? When should I be married? We assume that there is something specific that should happen at a specific point in time. We look at our friends or people the same age and see what they have accomplished to determine what we “should” have.

But life doesn’t work like that. One’s life path at the age of 20 will not be on the same life path at the age of 25 or 30. Because life is constantly evolving, circumstances change and what used to be will not be anymore. For the individual, but especially in comparison to others.

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Living in your own timezone

One can graduate from college at the age of 22 but won’t find a good job for many years while someone else graduates at 25 and finds his/her dream job right away. One can become a CEO at the age of 25, work hard every day and die when he/she is 50 while someone else becomes CEO at 50 but works until he/she is 90. Some people find the love of their lives as teenagers, while it took Meghan Markle several romances and one divorce before she married her prince at the age of 36. Barack Obama retired at the age of 55 while Donald Trump started when he was 71. Copenhagen is 6 hours ahead of New York, but this doesn’t make New York slow. Apples grow in May and strawberries in June, but this doesn’t make Apples any better than Strawberries. The bottom line is: it really doesn’t matter what others do and when they do it. Time is very subjective, it is personal and cannot be compared.

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People around you might seem to be ahead of you or behind you but everyone is running their own race and in their own time. We all have different backgrounds, different stories, and different responsibilities in this world. So don’t envy anyone and equally don’t think bad of someone if he/she is falling behind. Everyone is in their time zone the way you are in yours. If you deeply understand time as purely subjective, you won’t ever compare yourself with others again. It’s always about your time, your time zone, your time frame.

All that matters is what you do now

What can you do about time? Stay in today, not yesterday and not tomorrow. This doesn’t mean that you should ignore them completely. Beware of the journey you are in and do what’s necessary now. Trust the process and do the work (now). And the past? The past is the past and it’s best if you leave it there…in the past. But every morning you wake up and have the chance to make the today your masterpiece.

All that matters is what you do now.

Jacob Nilius