--- title: "Three kinds of time" description: "Greene's division of the art of timing into three kinds, each with its own skill." canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/three-kinds-of-time/ updated: 2026-11-03 --- # Three kinds of time > Greene's division of the art of timing into three kinds, each with its own skill. Robert Greene's framework, from 48 Laws of Power, pp. 432 to 446. Framework 20 of 27 from [48 Laws of Power](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/index.md) by Robert Greene. Category: Leadership. ## The steps 1. **Long Time.** Manage years-long time with patience and gentle guidance, mostly defensively, waiting for opportunity. 2. **Forced Time.** Use short-term time offensively by making people wait, making them hurry or giving them deadlines so their timing is upset. 3. **End Time.** Having waited and found the moment, execute with speed and force without any hitch in the endgame. ## Where it comes from From chapter: LAW 35, pp. 432–446 Never seem in a hurry, and treat time as something to read and shape. Joseph Fouche survived revolution, Terror, Directoire, Napoleon and two Bourbon restorations by sniffing out the spirit of the times, waiting patiently, switching sides at the right moment and escaping arrest by ladder. Greene divides time into three kinds: long time, which calls for patience and defence; forced time, in which you upset others' timing by making them wait or hurry, as Sultan Mehmed did with the Hungarian emissary; and end time, where you must finish quickly and ruthlessly. He says there is no reversal. ## The animation 24 seconds, 4:5, no sound. - MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/three-kinds-of-time.mp4 - MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/three-kinds-of-time-dark.mp4 - Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/three-kinds-of-time.png - Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/three-kinds-of-time-dark.png