Time is on my side

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Count down to the hypothetical ideal position.
While thinking about tempo's in chess I realized that we tend to count them in the wrong direction. When the chess pieces are in the begin position, I can imagine an ideal position where all the pieces are on their best squares. There is a minimum amount of tempo's required to reach that ideal position. You can only do it slower, by spilling moves, but not faster. As long as your pieces haven't reached their optimal positions, tempo's do play a role. If your opponent spills some tempo's, you can afford to do the same, without being punished. Once the ideal position is reached, the word tempo starts to loose its meaning. So you count down the tempo's until have reached the hypothetical ideal situation. From the start of the game, to become well developed is the ideal situation. In the opening you can lose tempo's. Once well developed, you can't. That is what Nimzowitsch meant by "there is a difference in falling asleep during your work or after your work".

Hierarchy of moves.
An ideal situation is the goal. There are moves that contribute much to that goal and there are moves that contribute little to that goal. Some moves even are counterproductive for the goal. This is important to realize, since it gives an hierarchy to the moves. Those pieces that contribute the most to the goal with the fewest series of moves must be played first. So first the one movers, then the two movers etcetera. Finally, when you are close to the ideal, you can permit to improve your worst piece with a long series of moves.

Continuous shift.
Due to the moves of the opponent, the ideal places for the pieces do shift continuously. One side can decide to deviate from the ideal line. For instance he can decide to start an attack while not fully developed. That can have great implications for the ideal placing of the pieces. Ofcourse you must then act accordingly and change your plan.

Mutual exchangebility of time, space and matter.
To a certain degree, time, space and matter are mutually exchangable. Time manifests itself as geometrical or spatial patterns on the board. Take for instance the rule of the square in the endgame. By drawing an imaginary square around a passer you can see if the king is in time to stop it.

If you can deprive your opponent of space, he may need too much time to shift between attacked targets.

In a gambit you sacrifice matter to gain time and space.

Time is up.
Ok, time is up now. Still to cover: the initiative, symmetry, when to move a pawn.