“The trouble with being punctual is that nobody’s there to appreciate it.” Franklin P. Jones
People make appointments and are late all the time – look at the cable guy. Society today has a problem with promptness. Trains and airline schedules are delayed all the time. My coworkers are late all the time. Why should I be on time? If I am an hour or two late for dinner at Mom’s she won’t mind.
Why bother getting to work on time? I can get there any time and stay late, as long as I accomplish what I need to do.
Who cares if we are on time?
A lot of people care. 15 minutes late is not late, is it? The answer may surprise you.
Think of a bus, train or plane leaving at a scheduled time. We get there 15 minutes late. They are gone. Why didn’t they wait? It was only a few minutes. Now I have a great inconvenience.
Our employer cares
Two-thirds of the expenses companies spend are on the workforce. That cost is reflected in the products the company sells. Putting in less than the time we are paid for lowers our productivity and is basically shoplifting from the company, ultimately raising the cost of the product.
Arrival lateness cheats coworkers of their time, especially if they depend on our presence or have to spend time filling us in on what we missed. Organizations lose millions in lost productivity due to lateness. A 15-minute daily lateness costs the company more than our weekly salary over the course of a year.
Our family and friends care
Perhaps Mom doesn’t say anything about our lateness, but she worked hard to prepare that dinner on time, and keeping it warm because of our lateness will dry it out. It minimizes her gift prepared with her labor and shows her our lack of respect.
When we promise to meet our friends at a certain time and we are late, we are showing them they are not important to us.
We should care
When we are consistently late, we project an image of self-indulgence, disrespect, and lack of time organization, telling everyone that we are more important than their insignificant event. Like Mom, they may never say it, but they are thinking it.
We should imagine ourselves on the other side at work, watching us consistently come in late. Would we give that person a responsible project with a deadline?
We should visualize each workday or meeting like a job interview appointment. Would we be late then?
Arriving early with small tasks we can work on will show off our characteristics of time management and respect.
Punctuality is the most obvious form of loyalty we can display. Time is never refunded once spent.
“I could never think well of a man’s … character, if he was habitually unfaithful to his appointments.” Nathaniel Emmons
Command a vital life. Live free.
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