WIZE TIME MANAGEMENT

Tenths of seconds – that’s what it takes to achieve – in the Olympics!  Can you imagine what a tenth of a second is?  Most people can’t. 

If you have a watch with a hand which moves on the second, have a look at how fast that is – it’s fast – as fast as saying 1/1000th – now imagine cutting that down to 1/10th – seems almost impossible doesn’t it? 

Yet, to get to the podium, that’s all it takes – tenths of seconds to make the difference between a medal or not. 

And it takes a good day or a bad day – a mistake – one mistake and it can cost you – imagine having a great year, winning lots of races and, on Olympic day, you make a mistake!  Imagine!  All year, you’ve been winning and at the Olympics you don’t get even a bronze because you made one mistake! 

Thank our lucky stars that the rest of life doesn’t imitate sport.  We don’t have to live in terms of tenths of seconds and we have can make mistakes without it costing us, most of the time, our lives, our livelihoods, our wins.  But we can learn from watching these athletes how fast time does go – and fast a life can change!

What’s so thought provoking about the Olympics is that we see life’s triumphs and tribulations on the screen instantly.  We see tears and jumps of joy.  We see the impossible and the predictions of glory killed in one fell swoop.  We become very conscious of time as it ticks away ever so quickly towards gold! 

Take your inspiration from these Olympic athletes – years of hard work, tons of money and energy expended and all it takes is a mistake and a few tenths of a second to decide whether an athlete achieves medal status or not – but . . . win or lose, none of them regret the experiences, the learning, the challenges, and the journey – and likely that’s the most important lesson of all – all of life’s experiences are important whether we describe them as good or bad – it’s all good!

One of the very best places to watch time management in action is at the Olympics.  It’s instant.

Time, timing, strategy, and speed are the name of the game in the Olympics.  It takes more than a strong body and years of training – it takes mental agility to assess the field while in competition and decide how and when to make a crucial move.   Make a mistake and you’re out.  Complete the right strategy at the right time, you win!

Time management is most evident in sports such as speedskating and snowboarding.

I’ve watched several speedskating events both short and long track.  Speedskating seems to have the most occurrences of timing strategy – it’s truly part of that sport.  Some lead.  Some stay back.  They jockey for position and, during the last lap, lots of action!  The leaders sometimes move further ahead or sometimes back.  Those in the middle move ahead and sometimes those in the back just zoom to the front.  And it’s all based on whom they are competing against and the length of the skate.  It’s amazing to watch these strategies in action.  It’s all in the timing!

In the finals of Men’s Snowboarding Cross, the Canadian Robertson was leading.  Behind him, defending his title, the American Westcott.  It looked like a sure win for the Canadian but . . . . near the end of the track, the American sped up and won gold.  Westcott stayed back, took the opportunity to gain speed and, at the last minute, passed Robertson.  As a spectator, it was incredible to watch such a timing strategy played out.

Time management can produce some amazing results!