I agree with Justin, awakeFromNib is always called after all objects in the NIB are fully loaded and initialised.
Also from NSNibAwaking protocol: Messages to other objects can be sent safely from within awakeFromNib—by which time it’s assured that all the objects are unarchived and initialized (though not necessarily awakened, of course).
If you genuinely need to use performSelector:withObject:afterDelay: then the cause of the problem is either something else, or you've encountered a serious bug in NIB loading.
by Matt Gallagher — Sep 19
Also from NSNibAwaking protocol:
Messages to other objects can be sent safely from within awakeFromNib—by which time it’s assured that all the objects are unarchived and initialized (though not necessarily awakened, of course).
If you genuinely need to use performSelector:withObject:afterDelay: then the cause of the problem is either something else, or you've encountered a serious bug in NIB loading.