Win the world?

This thing about timing is something every philosopher goes gaga about. Call it timing, call it luck, it seems all the same. The guy who loses out calls it bad luck that his timing was off. (You know, the product was ahead of its time and all that.) The guy who wind lauds his own ability to time his actions. Luck? There's no such thing like luck in the lexicon of he who succeeds! Even Billy the bard adds his couple of words to this timing thing with his "There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune" thus mixing up action and luck all in one quote allowing you to pick what you choose to do...whether it is luck that caused the tide in your affairs OR your super-ability to take it at the flood which lead on to fortune.

Well, you cannot expect Tiru to not put his oar in on timing. After all, the chap IS a philosopher, and it is de rigueur for philosophers to talk of timing.

Gnaalam karudhinum kaikoodum kaalam karudhi idatthaar seyin - Tirukkural

You can even conquer the world if you attempt at the right time and right place - Loose Translation

As a piece of advice that says 'Nothing is impossible' I'd say that this couplet is useful. It is also true that to attempt anything one needs to ensure that the timing of your actions is right and, perhaps, in a a lot of cases, you also need to ensure that the place where you act needs to be right as well. (I mean, like, you'd not be trying to be the King of Fertilizers by opening your first retail shop in Delhi's Connaught Place OR Mumbai's Marine Drive, now, would you?) So far so good.

The problem is that you cannot take this world domination theme very seriously, in my opinion. THAT part is more like economics. AFTER someone achieved world dominion, be it Alexander or Jeff Bezos, you can dissect his success and find why it was right timing and placement that got him there. The problem is that you cannot PLAN it. When you assess success your sample size is those of the winners and it seems like they all managed to time their actions well. The number of people who failed at the same thing earlier tends to get obscured and, if taken into account, would underscore the difficulty of achieving that timing so well.

Which is not to say that you should never try anything big; or to say that it is impossible to get proper timing and placement in ANYTHING. The fact is that, in most things it IS possible with some thought to time things so that you maximize your chances of success (Like, if you can, timing your travel during the day could get you across Bangalore without getting stuck in a traffic jam :) ). AND, when you are attempting something big, it is advisable to keep an eye out to check whether the time is not favoring your action and be ready with course correction plans.

The point IS that timing and placement are important. To the extent possible, you need to get them right. AND be prepared to course correct in case it seems that you got them wrong. THEN you could possibly win the world!