Time Advantage

The biggest competitive advantage is time. Time to be patient. Time to invest. Time to pick the right moment. A lot of people hope to suddenly come across a life-changing idea. A get-rich-quick scheme. A sentence, or thought, that sparks a complete revolution in their interaction with the world. I don't think that is how it works. Real advantages often live in the open, hidden only by our willingness to dedicate ourselves to the time we need to commit.

There is a difference between being able to Google the answer, and knowing the answer. It is the same difference between someone who has grown up speaking a language, and someone being handed a Smartphone with Google Translate, and a Dictionary. Having the answers, and knowing the answers are two different things.

We are shifting away from industries that need people to smash things, pick things up, and carry things to and fro. Towards industries that need people to be able to see.

In my first job, I often had to write papers or proposals on how to deal with a problem. They could be 10 or 15 pages long, and hidden in there were one or two things I felt very uncomfortable about. My first 'big boss' seemed to have a secret ability to skim through the document, and land his finger on those two points before I had finished my self-congratulatory cup of handed-it-in coffee. It seemed like black magic. His advantage? Time. Gradually, the deeper you go, the clearer things become. The work I was doing wasn't rocket science, but it did require application. Just do the work.

I believe lots of things are like that. Learning a language, learning an instrument, running a marathon. The reason we don't do these things is we don't feel sufficiently competent quick enough. We expect to be able to go for a 5km run after sitting at a desk for 20 years without it hurting. Hint - it wasn't the run that was the problem. We expect to pick up a guitar and play like Brian May. Hint - Brian May didn't start playing like Brian May. We expect to learn languages like mother tongue speakers without the decade, or two, or three, of deep soaking little Monsters go through.

Some answers aren't easy. Even if they are obvious. The answers that require time.