I worked with a coach who told me a story about a researcher he worked with at a technology lab in the 90’s. The Internet was still nascent and file size was critical because of all the 28k modems consumers were dialing in with. There were several new image formats being promoted and the researcher had been awarded a grant to figure out which image compression algorithm was the most efficient.
My coach was an intern at the lab and was surprised to see the researcher wasting his work days playing video games instead of doing research. When he asked the researcher about it, they responded, “I’m letting time do the work.”
Six months later the results were due. By then though, a variety of people across the Internet had publicized tests and data on the available formats and the researcher simply summarized them and did some spot work to fill in the gaps. The researcher recognized that lots of other people cared about the problem and were actively engaged with it. They used that as leverage to avoid doing the work themselves.
A few days ago, I wrote about alternatives to effort to get objectives accomplished. One of the proposed alternatives was time.
A model to conceptualize using time over effort is to consider it as, “bake time.” There’s a certain amount of prep in baking brownies, but then you toss everything in the oven and wait. Batter goes in, delicious brownies come out. Time does the work.
This puts some handles on understanding it, but to consider where and how you might apply it, here are some examples:
Marketing
In marketing, there’s a concept of “7 Touches.” Customers have to see you seven times to internalize your business as a possible solution. Brand marketing works on this principle and many marketing campaigns take time to get traction. SEO is another example where you do some up front work and won’t see traffic for months and sometimes up to a year.
Growth
A friend of mine started a coffee shop three years ago. It took years to build a customer base. All he did was show up and make coffee. By providing a good product in an open market, a neighborhood with no coffee shop, he gradually picked up consumers and word of mouth spread.
Hiring & Development
Many years ago, I hired a very junior developer as my first employee. He was hungry to learn and within a year was taking most of my work off my plate. If you’ve ever heard of someone hiring a “diamond in the rough,” you’ve heard of someone applying a time-based strategy. These people are already on an upwards trajectory and it’s just a matter of identifying them near the beginning of their arc. Another way to capitalize on time is to grow employees by giving them challenges rather than holding their hand.
Problem Solving
I have a somewhat complex problem that needs a solution by next week. Rather than sit down and work it out, I reviewed it a couple of days ago. I’m going to review it again today. I’m going to try and clarify what the key issues are. Then I’ll let my subconscious chew on it right up until the moment when I have to formulate a solution.
These are a few examples, but there are more.
What all of these have in common is that they rely on courage, faith, and patience. We tend to default to effort and grinding because we lack one or more of these qualities. But if you’re going to apply a time as a lever, these are the tools you’ll employ.
Featured image is a portrait of the 17th century writer and philosopher Baltasar Gracian who is credited with the quote, “Time and I against any two.” Used under public domain.