Recently, I have noticed a problem I experience and I believe have experienced for some time. That is, I tend to be late to things. Not extremely late mind you, just a minute or two – but late is late. Part of the reason for this is because I hate getting to places too early and then wasting time waiting for the event to start. However, I feel like I am not respecting other people’s time when I show up late to things for whatever reason.
This month the challenge is to always be a minimum of 5 minutes early to everything, which means aiming for 10 minutes early. This is very straightforward and does not really need any explanation. However, I will make a couple comments.
- Calculate driving times based upon max potential traffic
- Plan an adequate amount of time to find a parking space and walk to the building
- With the above two guidelines in mind, leave for an event at the time that will allow me to arrive there ten minutes before it begins (assuming traffic is not horrible and I find a decent parking spot, this means I may be as much as 20 minutes or more early)
The other thing I hope to accomplish this month by working on punctuality is driving the speed limit. I have been pulled over twice in the past month and given one ticket (I will be taking a driver safety course over the next couple of months to remove this from my record).
The new month, according to the moon, began almost a week ago, so this post is late. However, I have already been striving for greater punctuality this past week and will continue to do so for the rest of this month.
Yes, being on time is a good thing. I’ve dealt with being early by bringing a book with me or some small task I could do if no one was around. Otherwise, it does allow for an opportunity to visit with someone or be available to help. There was a study done once where subjects were manipulated to be arriving either early or late to a meeting (unaware this was just a study) and en route were asked for help. Those late tended to just keep going while those early stopped. We call it “having margin” and it’s especially important now that I lead around a whole pack of potential needs or emergencies. If I am running late I’m focused on my agenda and interruptions or delays tend to make me angry. Being early allows me to focus on others (be it my children or other drivers or even giving a smile to someone I pass).