I’m Running Late. Translation: “I Don’t Care About You or Your Time”

I don’t like to be late. In fact, you could even say I hate being late. So much so that to the irritation of my wife and family I leave early enough that I usually arrive 10-15 minutes early and end up waiting in the car until the actual start time of whatever event we’re attending. I’m the guy that takes the advice when traveling to show up at the airport early to ensure you’re not stuck in the security lines and end up reading a book or magazine for an hour or more while I wait to board my flight.

In my mind, I’d rather be early than late. I don’t want my brand to be such that everybody knows I’ll be late to any and every meeting. It seems like more and more I find myself wishing that others would share this same feeling. The other day I had a meeting with a person that is always late. It’s a chronic issue with this person, so much so that her brand is built upon her tardiness.

As I sat and waited, I got a text saying she was going to be late due to a traffic issue. As I received the text I saw the person getting out of her car carrying an empty McDonald’s bag and sucking down the last of her soda. I laughed but at the same time was thinking, “Typical. “

I was taught that being late was rude and an indication that you don’t care about the others involved in the activity. In essence, when you’re late you’re saying, “Whatever it is I was doing is far more important than what you’re doing.”

In the experience I shared above, the person has been branded by me and others she deals with as always being late. People that deal with her know that no matter the meeting or appointment she’ll be late. That’s a brand I never want to be saddled with.

Here are some tips to arriving on time and not being branded as the person that can’t ever show up on time.

• Prepare in advance. Take some time to think about how long it usually takes you to travel or get from one place to another. Think about the other tasks you have to accomplish and prioritize these activities. I start every day by creating a list of the things I need to accomplish. I prioritize those activities and start with the most urgent tasks. If something unexpected comes up, I know which activities I can postpone in favor of the unexpected emergencies that sometimes come up.
• Create a schedule. A schedule should give you a checklist to work from. In my experience, it’s nice to have a list to work from and to ensure that you’re not forgetting something. I travel once a quarter for onsite meetings with a client in another state. For these meetings I create a schedule to help ensure that when I arrive onsite for the meetings I have everything I need.
• Start early. My wife taught me this. When we have a vacation or event like a holiday to prepare and plan for she starts early. She creates a list of the things we need to do to be ready for the event. If the event is a vacation, her list includes things like arranging for mail to be held during the trip, cleaning the house, packing luggage and paying bills in advance. She even plans grocery shopping and charging camera batteries in advance. By doing this, we’re not waking up the day we leave for vacation trying to pack luggage in time to catch our flight.
• Plan for unexpected events. I set up an interview with one my clients the other day and on the way to the interview my client was involved in a fender bender. It wasn’t his fault, he was rear ended by another motorist. This was certainly something that was not expected but he had left early enough that even while waiting for the police to come and issue citations he was still able to get to the interview on time. Things like this happen all the time, but if you plan and leave early enough you can still keep and make appointments.

There are always exceptions to arriving on time and being late, but when it’s a chronic problem there are no excuses. An inability to arrive on time is a sign of laziness and demonstrates that you don’t care or that a meeting or commitment is unimportant. In the business world it can destroy your brand and reputation. By being prompt and keeping commitments you build trust and demonstrate your commitment to your career, your clients and the others you work with.