Hi, I'm Sam,
The year was 2021 and the month was January, right after everything that came with 2020 and with everything that happened that year, I like to focus on the fact that I got two Taylor Swift albums and no, it's not my way to downplay how terrible that year was or the irreplaceable loss people experienced but we get to choose what to focus on in any moment in time and I want to focus on that for now. Just like any other company, the company I worked for then made plans for the new year and making plans was one thing and taking action was a different ball game but my company decided that we needed to open a branch in another city which meant that some of us were going to have to move to this new city. I was pleased with this plan because it felt like a fresh start and it was a fresh start and it couldn't have come at a better time with the heaviness of the year before. I somehow convinced myself that things would be better and different because of the relocation and I really wanted things to be better and different.
We decided to make it a road trip which was supposed to fun because it was just going to be myself, the CEO, CTO and head of marketing and before you ask, I was in charge of Operations. I volunteered to drive because I love driving and no one argued with that. We chose the day to leave, what time to leave and every other logistic plans we could make but the ultimate non-negotiable was that the trip should be fun and we were all on the same page with that. The day of the trip came and we left as early as we could which was 6am.
On my part, I never really thought about how fast or slow I was going to drive and didn't bother to calculate how long the journey was going to take us but I knew the journey should take nothing less that 6 hours, all I wanted was to be safe, be in the moment and have fun. Some days I wonder if I was me now, then, I would've thought about everything and in the process put so much pressure on myself and things would go different and I don't mean in a negative way. This would be my first time driving that distance since I got my license and it was and still is an achievement I brag about but at the time didn't really plan to achieve.
I agree that timeline is always a good thing because it helps add structure to whatever is about to happen or is happening but not for every situation and certainly not for everyone. Sometimes my timeline for things can be too realistic and that leaves me unprepared for when things get past my timeline to a point I haven't thought and prepared for. And sometimes my timeline can seems too soon for the plans I've laid out and that can leave me frustrated because things I thought should happen during a particular period hasn't even started looking like it and adjusting the timeline in this case may seem futile because it's not going to make any difference. The best case becomes letting things be and happen when they happen. The only thing I can do is to always be ready so that I don't have to get ready when the opportunity presents itself. If I had placed a time duration on the trip to make it from point A to point B and something happens and I didn't make my time, it would've put a nasty damp on the achievement I thought I was going to get that no one really cares for, myself included. Without the pressure and thoughts of placed parameters, I was able to be careful and have fun because I had the mentality of let things happen as they should but doing everything I was meant to do, as at when I was supposed to do them.
In the six hour we were on the journey, I never really thought about what happens when I get to my destination, I tried to be in the moment and get things moving, literally and figuratively. There was no point putting pressure on myself while in the process, so which makes me wonder why I try to intensify certain situations in my life while going through them. Somehow I felt ike applying pressure is only going to get me through the process quicker but I've realized in my case that i don't get through the process faster, the pressure just makes the process uncomfortable and irritating. SSituations that I would've coasted through becomes excruciating because I decided to apply a formula not meant for me to myself.
On the topic of timelines being a good thing, timeline can be a reasonable push that we need to get certain things done. I believe this push works for individuals who value the process and the deal of getting things done. I am someone who makes a checklist for most things in my life and the satisfaction i get in the one second it takes me to click the checkbox to scratch something off my to-do list is like a feeling I can't really explain, and I get atleast 2 things in that moment - actually doing something important for myself, which is being productive and also getting the satisfaction of crossing a task of my list.
If you are someone who can handle any type of pressure, I'm happy to tell you that you have already hacked the system of timelines and the consistent decision making along with healthy pressure keeps you on a level that as much as you try to teach and coach people on, they have to practically get to that level of pressure handling and consistency to completely understand exactly what you mean and experience.
