Time

Time is definitely not linear.

My sprained ankle is taking forever to heal, yet only 2 days have done by. I dream of getting back on my skateboard and conquering my ramp fears, I am desperate to strap on my shoes and go for a run, and of course I want to spend hours surfing. Actually, surf I will, sprained ankle or not! Unfortunately there is a heap of time between me and getting physical. If I follow my own advice, I really need to make the most of all of that time. Instead of skating and running, perhaps it is time for some battleships and board games with my children. Perhaps I should cook dinner more often and perhaps I should just enjoy this time of moving very slowly.

Getting our new business up and running is also taking its sweet time. We were very lucky to have 8 months of projects dumped in our laps. Now it is time for the hard yards. Ferreting out business in a time when business is hard to come by. The silver lining is that there are plenty of learnings for us as management consultants in building up our own business. Trust me, there is work out there, the challenge is to get a piece of that work. And we shall! In time....

One of the things that we are trying, is tendering for work. The interesting thing about the tender process is that one can pick and choose the type of work that you would like to try and get. My partner and I have made a conscious decision to try and get work that is meaningful, i.e. something that adds real value to people. As such, some of our tenders have been linked to poverty alleviation, SADC organisation, and traffic management. If we are privileged enough to be awarded a tender, we hope to add more value than expected because of our belief in the outcome and not just the compensation. Time will tell....

The half pipe is a lesson in how time is compressed. From dropping in at the top, to losing control of my skateboard, to landing skew on my foot with all my momentum joining the forces of gravity, to crashing into the bottom of the ramp, to breaking my fall with my wrist, to rolling over and standing up, to knowing with certainty that weeks of time stretched ahead to replay this incident in my head, to the first intense firing of synapses in my ankle, was absolutely instantaneous! Yet I know that once I master the drop in, I will have time to reposition my feet on my board, think about the state of the economy, yawn, check the time, and phone my stockbroker, before passing the point of that crash. Anyone that has gone through a traumatic event will also testify to this fact, time slows down.

My ankle will heal, I will master the ramp, my business will grow, this I know! To wish away this time while all of that happens would be such a waste. Instead I am going to enjoy making it all happen in its own time!