Timelines don't make a whole lot of sense to me.

I get that planning for the future usually requires some sort of base to build the plan on.

And the default seems to be a linear view of time dotted with sequential milestones.

I, like most people I know, grew up with this understanding and use of timelines.

Time-based linear schedules while in school, when you go on overseas travel tours ("We'll meet here in 1 hour!"), or when you try to plan your days / weeks out.

And they are easy to use both because they are ubiquitous, understood by most people, and straightforward (note the use of 'straight' and 'forward').

The issue I've always had with timelines is that, once they project a certain distance into the future, there are practically no guarantees that any of it will pan out "as planned".

Perhaps it's my disposition towards going with the flow or my preference to observe that leads me to plan my life around events as opposed to time.

And I know that it's not an easy concept to "get" for people who've always planned around time.

I suppose I'll have to dig a bit deeper and elaborate on this some time in the near future, because it isn't something I've explored that much yet.

If you have any thoughts on this, I'd love to hear from you.