Timing Is The Key For Achieving Success In Life

This truth applies in all areas.

Photo by Bradley Ziffer on Unsplash

A few days ago, I was browsing ted.com looking for inspiring talks. That’s when I came across a talk given by Bill Gross in March 2015. As a reminder, Bill Gross is a businessman who founded many startups and also supported the development of many others through his company Idealab.

Bill Gross’s talk is intended to explain “The single biggest reason why start-ups succeed”. Given his experience in this area, it is clear that Bill Gross has a lot to teach us. If you haven’t already done so, I also advise you to view his talk during TED 2015:

5 Essential Elements That Lead To Success

Bill Gross first explains that there are 5 essential elements that lead to success for a startup:

Ideas

Team

Business model

Funding

Timing

After evaluating hundreds of successful or failed startups against these 5 criteria, Bill Gross concludes that timing is the element that makes all the difference in the success or failure of a startup.

Striking Examples

Among the examples Bill Gross cites is the startup Z.com, which launched a video service in the late 1990s that was somewhat similar to YouTube but not as successful as expected. Why? Simply because the timing was not the right one. Broadband penetration in the US was too low at that time for the service to be successful.

When YouTube arrived, broadband penetration was much better, which made the startup a huge success. The idea behind YouTube was the same but the timing was optimal.

Finally, the example of Airbnb is also striking. Indeed, who could have imagined that so many individuals would be seduced by the idea of renting their homes for a night to strangers? Very few people. Indeed, the majority of investors would have thought that this potential fear of strangers would be prejudicial to Airbnb’s business model.

In the end, the opposite happened and Airbnb is a huge success. Why? The timing made the difference once again. When Airbnb was founded, the world had just entered the 2008 financial crisis. Thus, many people have seen in Airbnb the possibility of earning some money to pass this difficult test.

A Good Decision Can Be Bad If The Timing Is Not Good

Bill Gross’s talk focuses on the success or failure of startups as you understand it. Nevertheless, I think that the essential element that determines the success or failure of a startup can apply to your whole life.

Indeed, timing will play a decisive role at all levels. Thus, a good decision at one time T1 can be a bad decision at one time T2. Overall, therefore, there are no good or bad decisions in most cases. These are the conditions surrounding this decision that will make the difference.

So, before making a decision, you must analyze the context and the environment around it. By doing so, you can maximize your chances of success.

Taking the example of the stock markets, Warren Buffett, one of the greatest investors of all time, likes to recall the following thing:

“Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can’t buy what is popular and do well.”

Investing in the stock market can be a good thing, but it must be done at the right time. And the right time comes when no one wants to buy.

Timing Is The Key For Achieving Success In Life

There are many other examples that I could present to you, but I think you have already grasped the essential: timing is essential to achieving success in life.

Once your life objectives have been defined, you will have to move forward gradually by making the right decisions at the right time. As I explained to you, a decision is neither good nor bad in itself. It all depends on the context and environment in which you will take it.

By incorporating this parameter, you will be able to make decisions that will prove to be the right ones and allow you to achieve great things.

It’s up to you now!