Just in the Nick of Time!

In my blog posting of this past Friday, I mentioned that I was struggling with a decision as to when to drive to America's Keswick (in Whiting, NJ). If you recall, we were in the midst of a last winter snow and sleet storm that day. I finally decided to wait until Saturday morning to travel. I left right after the township plowed out our cul de sac. It was just about 6:30 AM that I pulled out (or should I say slid out) of my driveway. The 117 mile trip took me about 3 1/4 hours across road surfaces that ranged from totally snow packed (and unplowed) to bare macadam. It was quite the trip. I was very grateful for a safe arrival (especially after passing several accidents) on the way. And I was glad to arrive fifteen minutes prior to my first teaching session - just in the nick of time.

Did you ever wonder where that expression, "just in the nick of time" comes from? According to the web site, worldwidewords.org, the expression comes from the 1500's. At that time a nick was a precise marker. And so the expression arose that to do something "in the nick" was to do it at the precise time it needed to be done. The words "of time" were added later to clarify the meaning. Neat, eh? Well, even if that doesn't make your day - just remember that in our busy world of deadline after deadline - we must make sure that we build some "margin" into our lives. This gives us some extra time to make sure that we can accomplish all that is on our schedule to accomplish - without killing ourselves in the process. So when I left for Keswick, I left just enough margin to get there "in the nick of time." (My plan was to allow for more margin - but that plan was scuttled as I had to wait for the plows.) So take a look at your busy schedule. It just may be that you don't have enough margin built in. Consistently arriving at places or finishing projects "just in the nick of time" gets old real fast!

Thanks for listening,

pj