Are you late, early, or on time? I am basically an on-time person. It wasn’t always the case. I used to be late.
The alarm didn’t go off. There was road construction. It took longer to get there than I thought it would. I couldn’t get off the phone. I got lost. Excuses, excuses, excuses. I cut everything to the wire, tried to put too much into a time frame, and didn’t account for travel time. I had a million excuses.
I always thought my time management skills were pathetic, but that was really just another excuse. Being on time is about respect for the other person, the person who is waiting for you. Once I learned that, it became easier to be on time. I give myself an extra twenty minutes for road construction. I give myself an extra hour if I am unsure how to get there; if I am too early I can always find a coffee house until it is time to arrive. I quit trying to do too much in one day.
Respect works the other way, too. I know people who arrive early, I have never been one of them, but I have been on the receiving end. I have had people show up half an hour early as I am doing the final touch-up before a party, I have had them show up an hour early as I am getting out of the shower, and I have had them arrive two hours early, before I got home from the store! These people say they want to help, but what they are doing is also a form of disrespect. It seems like they want to catch me unprepared, so they can look like the ones to save the day. It is an “I am better than you” type of disrespect and, in some ways can be the hardest. Waiting for someone is boring, having someone show up when you are not ready is uncomfortable.
Today, I arrive on time. Not late and not early either. I want to show my respect for you. You are valuable and your time is valuable. When we set the time, it is a promise. Keeping my promises also means that I respect myself.