Have you ever come across a situation where you need to delay or to “buy some time” so that you will be able to give an appropriate answer or come out with an action plan? I remember as a student at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, Joel Busch who was my Professor of Political Science at that time told us that one of the popular techniques used by politicians whenever they are face with tough questions would be to give a simple reply by replying “it depends”. Professor Busch said that such a reply would buy the politician some time to formulate a strategy or a better answer to counter the question. “It depends” is like an “open answer” that would “buy some time” for the politician. It would force the reporter to ask a follow up question which by then the politician would have hopefully come out with a strategy or a better answer. An effective technique to delay or to “buy some time”.
While on the topic of “buying time”, I am reminded of a story related by Anthony Watson who was my lecturer in International Relations at the University of Southern California in 1987. The story originated from a nomadic tribe known as Sufi. The story goes that once there was a man who was arrested for stealing precious items from the palace. The Ruler who was a ruthless leader immediately sentenced the thief to death. The thief wanted to buy himself some time to save his life so he offered to train the Ruler’s favourite horse to be able to talk in 10 years time if the Ruler is able to delay his death sentence until then. As ridiculously as the proposal may be, the Ruler felt he had nothing to lose so he decided to spare the thief’s life for 10 years. If the thief fails to teach the horse to talk, the thief will be put to death. Meanwhile the thief’s friends heard about his ridiculous proposal. They just shook their heads and said to him, “Are you mad? You know the horse will never be able to talk. You will die in 10 years time. Such madness!” The thief just replied, “10 years is a long time. By then, either the Ruler will die or I will die or......well, the horse will TALK!!!” The gist of the story is that the thief is buying himself some time for whatever reason or purpose. The reason could be because he is planning an escape from the Ruler's kingdom or he has some unfulfilled commitment or work that he needs to finish off or perhaps he just want to avoid the inevitable as long as he can.
Delaying tactics or buying ourselves some time is appropriate if we have a good reason for it. However, take caution, doing it often and on the same people would have negative effect. It will affect our credibility and people will no longer place trust on us as our words are becoming irresponsible. However, it will be useful especially when we find ourselves in a “tight situation” such as when we are “pressured” to buy something or to make a commitment. For example, a real estate agent pushing you to make an offer on a Property. The real estate agent could be “testing water” to see how much you are willing to pay for the Property. You, on the other hand, is interested in the Property but refused to be drag into the real estate agent’s web of “commitment to buy”. In such situation, you will need to “buy some time” to decide. By saying “no, I can’t decide” would show your weakness or being indecisive. By saying “yes”, you are committing yourself without being sure whether you are overpaying for it. So, what would be the appropriate way to handle this situation? I am sure there are many ways of handling this situation, but what I would do is just to request the real estate agent for more information, preferably information that the agent will not be able to provide you immediately. For example, an evaluation report of the Property, a copy of the Title Deed, what kind of financing can you get, etc. In other words, place the burden or the delay onto the agent as if as YOU are waiting for the agent to get back to you rather than you are the cause of the delay. This is a technique where politicians like to call it “answering a question with a question”. In other words, throwing the question back to the person who initially asked the question. This would allow you some time to think or formulate your next cause of action. If you can think of any other techniques to “buy some time”, feel free to share them in this blog under the “Comment” section below. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to buy me some time so that I can get some sleep!
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