The year is early, don’t be late

clockWe’re early in the new year but it isn’t too early to work on a few new year’s resolutions and get them out of the way before they are long forgotten.

One of my biggest pet peeves is timeliness. Specifically, I can’t stand when people are late.

If tardiness is a problem for you or even if time management is one of your strengths, it probably isn’t a bad idea to think about not only how you present to others in terms of timeliness but how they do the same for you.

Are you habitually late when you’re meeting with others?

Do friends and people in your life typically show up late when meeting with me?

As a kid, my family knew another family that we saw several times per year and they were always late when visiting us. We’re talking 1 hour late every single time they’d come over to our place. It got to the point where if they were supposed to be at our house by 2pm, we knew they wouldn’t arrive until after 3pm.

My parents never said anything because they were friends but on the occasion where we were going out with them to a restaurant for example we were always unsure as to what time to make a booking given how late they were going to be.

In a work setting – whether in your job or during an interview for an example – being late is probably going to cost you even if you don’t realize it.

If you show up late to work continuously you’re eventually going to be known as the person who is always late and that will possibly lead to the rumor that you’re also unreliable since you if you can’t even show up on time, how can you be counted upon to do anything else? I recall quite a few people I worked with who were always associated with being late because….well, they were always late.

In a job interview situation, if you show up late, that’s pretty much strike 1, 2 and 3 in the eyes of some hiring managers right off the bat. As mentioned above, if you show up late to an interview, you’ll probably be remembered as “the guy who showed up late” without any good reason.

If that’s the case, I’m guessing you aren’t getting the job even if the interviewer doesn’t say so. Interviewers also tend not to tell you on the way out of the interview that you’re not getting the job either, so even though they don’t say it’s a big deal when you’re late, chances are it is.

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