Never seem to be in a hurry — hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself, and over time. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually. Become a detective of the right moment; sniff out the spirit of the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has reached fruition.

The first concept to understand in ‘mastering the art of timing’…

The first practical step towards this is taking autonomy of one’s emotions.

The key is fostering a keen awareness of how our emotions can cloud our perception of time. Notice how chaotic uncontrolled emotions can often distort the perception of time. It takes you out of the present moment and into your head, instead of staying in the reality of the moment.

To take control of one’s emotion is to take control over time.

Joseph Fouche, who served as a key official and chief of police under France’s top leaders including Robespierre and Napoleon, had an uncanny ability to read the chaotic times, align himself with the latest leaders, and avoid getting caught up in retribution for the crimes of the leaders who fell. He also knew when to keep a low profile and wait.

Three Categories of Time

1. Long time:

• The drawn-out, years-long kind of time that must be managed with patience and gentle guidance. Our handling of a long time should be mostly defensive—this is the art of not reacting impulsively, of waiting for an opportunity.
• When you force the pace out of fear and impatience, you create a nest of problems that require fixing, and you end up taking much longer than if you had taken your time.
• Hasteners may occasionally get there quicker, but papers fly everywhere, new dangers arise, and they find themselves in constant crisis mode, fixing the problems that they themselves have created.
• Sometimes not acting in the face of danger is your best move—you wait, you deliberately slow down. As time passes it will eventually present opportunities you had not imagined.

2. Forced time:

• The short-term time that we can manipulate as an offensive weapon, upsetting the timing of our opponents.
• The trick in forcing time is to upset the timing of others.
• To make them hurry, to make them wait, to make them abandon their own pace, to distort their perception of time.
• By upsetting the timing of your opponent while you stay patient, you open up time for yourself, which is half the game.

3. End Time:

• When a plan must be executed with speed and force. We have waited, found the moment, and must not hesitate.
• Waiting patiently for the right moment to act, putting your competitors off their form by messing with their timing—but it won’t mean a thing unless you know how to finish.
• Do not be one of those people who look like paragons of patience but are actually just afraid to bring things to a close.
• Patience is worthless unless combined with a willingness to fall ruthlessly on your opponent at the right moment.
• You can wait as long as necessary for the conclusion to come, but when it comes it must come quickly.
• Use speed to paralyze your opponent, cover up any mistakes you might make, and impress people with your aura of authority and finality.