Which is better?…
Being Early or Arriving late?
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who led the Allied forces to victory in WWII, was famous for his “when-to-arrive-for-a-meeting” philosophy.
“If you weren’t 10 minutes early for the meeting, you were late.”
I know over 60% of you probably never heard of Ike or even he was the supreme commander of all forces in World War II. That is kinda said and you not knowing who he was could be related to you being late to your American History classes.
So, Let’s move on.
Change Your Thinking!
I know there are many people in the business world who have the attitude that nothing ever happens the first 15 minutes of a meeting so why be early or even on time?
I figure if you are one of those people you have already left this blog right after General Eisenhower’s quote. That is too bad because this blog is probably what you need to be reading.
Tardiness is understandable. We all live in an extraordinarily busy world.
We schedule meetings and appointments back-to-back, haphazardly fitting the rest of our lives into half-hour long time slots.
We’re always plugged into our phones, reading emails, and reading texts that need to be answered “immediately.”
But, if you can be punctual despite these obstacles, you implicitly acknowledge you value other peoples’ limited time.
Getting to a meeting or appointment on time shows it’s important to you, and something for which you’ve planned.
Being chronically late, on the other hand, sends the message that whatever you’re doing is simply more important than the task at hand—and that your time is more valuable than everyone else’s.
You Are Not That Important
Now I realize the majority of us have been late to something more than once in our lives.
But the distinction that I’d like to zero in on concerns people who are habitually late–and what message that kind of behavior sends to the rest of us.
In short: it tells us our time is less valuable than yours.
Nobody..no matter who you are..is that important. Devaluing other people’s time below yours will eventually bite you on the butt.
It the real world of business these people who feel the world revolves around them are being culled out of the workspace. This pushes them into entrepreneurship or freelancing where they eventually find out how their inability to be on time is costing them the ability to pay rent.
Post COVID-19 Business World.
In Switzerland, showing up at exactly the scheduled time might be considered late since everyone is expected to show up early. The post-COVID-19 crisis could result in the USA business world adopting a Swiss attitude towards meeting times.
Why! Business owners and executives are not going to have time to waste. Businesses will have been in lockdown for weeks, if not months. There will be a LOT of meetings and there will be little tolerance of people who did not make the change these businesses need you to make.
If this takes place, how hirable will you be? I think you know the answer.
Get Your Act Together
Needless to say, but I will…if you feel being late to anything is not important right now… you are probably not going to be accepted in the new Social Distancing race to success business world we all will be living in.
Be safe, think safe and let me know how I can help.
