LAG TIME

A few years ago when I was studying ceramics in art school, I had a teacher that asked me a question that has had a tremendous impact on my life ever since.
While building a piece of sculpture, it requires time for the various stages to unfold.
There is the building of the piece, the slow drying, the firing, then the glazing and another firing. Because we were only in class one day a week, we left our art pieces for the teachers to push through the kiln firings when they had the time. Often we would arrive Saturday morning eager to see how our pieces had turned out only to be disappointed that they were still on the shelf, waiting for their turn.
Our teacher would say, “What’s the rush?”
Ever since then, when I am putting pressure on someone or myself, I ask myself that question, “What’s the rush?”
Often, there really isn’t one, just a self-imposed pace that is completely arbitrary and sometimes punishing.
I have a client who is moving to this area next summer and who is concerned about the availability of high-speed Internet access on the shore.
He is accustomed to it at his job, but will be retiring when he moves here.
He is concerned that the waiting for the hookup will be too slow and create anxiety.
I say, what can be more anxiety promoting than high-speed living?
And how often do we do that to ourselves? It is self-inflicted!
Everywhere you look, the world is encouraging us to do more in less time. Cooking with microwave ovens, buying cars that go from 0 to 60 in 8 seconds, multitasking to get things done so we can do more of something else.
Whew! When will it end?
There is a concept I heard about some time ago that I really liked. It is called “lag time.” This is the gap between when you started a project and when it comes alive.
You see lag time everywhere you look.
Let’s pretend you want to lose 20 pounds, so you start an exercise program. For the last 2 months you have been working out every day and improving your diet, yet you still have 15 pounds to go. Lag time!
A client of mine is building a business and is jazzed about what she wants to do and knows the marketplace will eat it up. But the reality set in when she plotted out the activities that needed to be done: find funding, hire employees, locate office space, develop a web site….the list goes on and on. She is realizing everything takes longer than she imagined. That’s lag time.
For every fast-moving-I-want-to-get-it-done person who is reading this, please know you are not alone. Lag time is the pits. Yet there is something to be said for patience. You can’t plant a seed one day and expect it to sprout the next.
I know this when I watch for the bulbs to appear in the spring. They will appear in their own time, much the way a butterfly emerges in its own time, not to be hurried by a well-meaning helper who opens its wings for it.
Eventually, everything you plant will sprout. The key word here is ‘eventually’.
Lag time gives you the time to cultivate your ideas, tweak what you are doing and fertilize the dream.
The only way to do that is to have faith while the vision unfolds.
The victory of success is sweeter when you know you put your heart and soul into a project.
Lag time is gestating time, it’s composting time, it’s where the richness of a plan or dream or action takes its own course and gives you an eventual rich result.
Consider the possibility that the time we spend waiting is not wasted time, but free time to enjoy some other small pleasure.
While stirring the beans when cooking a good meal conversation can happen, relaxation can occur; watching the birds in the feeder can be of enough worth to let it be o.k. to be in ‘lag time’.
I saw an article in yesterday’s paper about the arrival of the 17-year cicadas this spring. There were warnings about the noise they will make, and the potential damage to small, newly planted trees. But aside from that, the article encouraged people “to enjoy this natural occurrence as a wonder and not a calamity…to be prepared for it so we can enjoy it.”
So, seventeen years underground, feeding and waiting for the right time to emerge. Now THAT’S lag time!
Learning to identify lag time and surrendering to it can be healthy for our bodies, minds and spirits.
Allowing lag time to unfold can reduce stress, provide us with some space to relax, and to be in the moment rather than on a wild ride to the finish line.
Give it a try this week. Notice when lag time is occurring and see how you can accept it as part of the rhythm of your life.

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