Time Is Essence

Time is essence must be the words appeared the most in any legal document or agreements. It is a reminder to many that respecting the timeline and schedule is important or else you will be penalised for non committed on deadline. Some said time is gold as it is something you cannot buy and renew. If time flied mean you have missed the space of opportunity. No wonder many like to say that if i have done this and that during younger age or how good i have taken the action earlier. Thereby, observing and respecting the time set is obviously essential for own self and others, worst still you might be regretting to the end tail of your life.

For individual, whether you regard time is important or not is very much subjective depending on how you want to optimise it and any consequences shall be self responsibility. However, if inaction that cause time loss and cost incurred that impacted others, then it is collective responsibility and rules should be set for all parties to adhere to. That explain why clause on time is essence always remain in the legal document.

Observing right time is very important as it is cost related. For example, if we are late in completing our task which is part of a whole process, we will be at fault as it will definitely disrupting the subsequent process. This will have big consequences especially for the projects require close coordination and harmonisation. These include construction, manufacturing, forex market and activities require no time margin error is allowed. For emergency services like ambulance, fire fighting and police, time adhering is more obvious.

For service delivery, getting a time table convenient to everyone is also important. We need the service provider and beneficiary to agree on the timing, schedule and frequency of service provision. For example, rubbish collection service can only be efficient if the truck comes on time, the people know when the truck is coming and hence prepare the rubbish for collection, the landfill operator will know by then that waiting time for disposal can be reduced if the truck reaches the landfill site on time. Of course, people making the same route as rubbish truck will be happy as they can avoid the route during time of collection.

Many complain about insufficient time and too much to do. Those complacent one will complain of too much time with nothing to do. To me, whether you have something to do or have nothing to do, it is your own decision and have nothing to do with the time. With or without we do something, the clock is moving. That by perhaps it is good to do something at all time rather than losing the precious asset for nothing, I presume.