just add a diary- than its easier to see whats going on in future.
to your question :
"are all people equal in high? - the same with plants, they all differ a bit - even the same strain has dif. phenotypes , then you have near hundred of variables than can cause one to be faster than another. A few exampels : one had a bit more water, better soil consitence, more nutri near the the startroots ..ect, ect. you can imagine 1000 things.
If you want to do LST - do when you feel the plant can tae it, the same with topping - just read some diaries and imagine how your plant schould look at the end - then got backwarts to your moment now. Then it is easy to plan.
Like writing a per with 90 days/lines - and write now all 90 days as a plan and try to stick to it.
then you can see where you standind and what comes next & when to feed ,switch the light ect.
and then comes reality and you adopt the plan to it until it works. Have fun.