Did You Know? with Gorick is the weekly newsletter by Gorick Ng, Harvard career adviser and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of The Unspoken Rules, where we deconstruct the untold paths to success — of people (or things) you know!
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Did You Know? Good timing can change your life!
Today’s Preview
How good timing…
(1) …Revolutionized retail
(2) …Can help you achieve more
(3) …Applies to your daily life
(1) A story from the past
Did you know? The barcode (those vertical black lines you see on every package) took 27 years to come into existence.
What happened?
- In 1947, a supermarket manager noticed that slow customer checkouts were eating into profits and begged a dean of Drexel University to research a solution.
- A postgrad named Bob Silver eavesdropped on the conversation and told Joe Woodland, an inventor.
- One day, while lounging on Miami Beach, Woodland poked his fingers into the sand, pulled out, noticed four lines in the sand, and had his “aha” moment: What if he could use a combination of narrow and wide lines to categorize products—just like morse code?
- There was just one problem: the barcode needed a bright light that could read it—and such a machine had not yet been invented.
- In 1960 (13 years later), a laser “hot and sharp enough to cut through materials” was invented. It was exactly the kind of laser that the barcode needed to work.
- There was now another problem: To be useful, the entire retail industry had to agree on a single standard that could be used across stores and products.
- In 1974 (27 years later), the first barcode was finally put onto a pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum.
- In 1992 (45 years later), Woodland's invention earned him the National Medal of Technology.
So, the next time you find yourself scanning a barcode at a store checkout, remember that it took 27 years to exist… and 45 years to make its inventor famous.
(2) A study of the present
Did you know? Just because an idea exists doesn’t mean the world is ready for it. Timing, as Woodland’s story reveals, can be everything.
The importance of timing is backed by research. Technology entrepreneur and investor Bill Gross analyzed over 200 companies from Airbnb to LinkedIn and found that…
- Timing accounted for 42% of the difference between startup success and failure, followed by the team (32%), idea (28%), business model (24%), and funding (14%).
So what? Good ideas aren’t enough. You need the world to be ready for your good ideas. And if the world’s not (yet) ready, wait for the right moment!
(3) A strategy for your future
Did you know? Good timing is also important when it comes to planning your daily life!
According to research, the best time to…
- Work out is 7:00am
- Write a paper is before 12:00pm
- Send emails is 10:00am - 3:30pm
- Nap is before 3:00pm
- Study is before 9:30pm
I know it because I’ve experienced it: All my life, I suffered from food comas… and next to zero productivity in my early afternoons. That is, until I realized while writing The Unspoken Rules that I shouldn’t be writing at 2pm, but 6am. It made all the difference!
Find the right time!
Gorick
