First Impressions – Be On-Time

Increase Your Chances – Nail Your First Impression – Be On-Time - #5

Punctuality is one thing I pride myself on and many of my friends actually make fun of me for it, but my dad taught me growing up that being late is disrespectful to the other person and we don’t want to be disrespectful others, do we?

What does being punctual mean to you and your business? And what does not being punctual mean?

When you are punctual, you appear considerate, reliable, trustworthy, organized and professional. Being late all the time reflects poorly on you. I know some people who think it’s “cute” that they are always late and wear it as their badge of honor. Nothing could be further from the truth. As I mentioned earlier it is disrespectful to those you are meeting with. . . period!  You would think being consistently on-time would be the professional standard, but in my experience a large percentage of people I interface with fail to meet the standard.

Being punctual is not just something that relates to in-person or online meetings, hitting or missing project deadlines is another area being “on-time” can reflect positively or negatively on you.

When someone is late, what is the first thing they offer? An apology or as I like to think, an excuse for being late. The old phrase excuses are like assholes and everyone has one is fitting here.  While most excuses are garbage, there are a few that are out of our control. You become ill or someone you care for becomes ill; you have a legit accident (and not stuck in traffic); your using public transportation and it is delayed due to no fault of your own.

Whatever the case may be, if you are late for a meeting or know that you are not going to meet that project deadline, be sure to communicate to those involved. This show some consideration at the very least.

So, what can you do to increase your chances of being on-time? Here are a few tips:

1. Plan to arrive early. I usually plan to be somewhere 15 minutes before I am supposed to be there.

2. Plan for delays. Depending on the time of day and where you are traveling to, you might have to take into consideration traffic could be bad or the parking situation at your location might be a nightmare. If you can scope it out ahead of time you will save yourself a ton of time.

3. On project deadlines build in some wiggle room so if you hit some snags you have some extra time to get things done.  Remember, under promise and over deliver.

4. Gather the items you need for your meeting ahead of time and have them ready to go before you are ready…being organized is key.

5. We all have smartphones with timers and alarms.  Use them! Set an alarm giving yourself plenty of time to get to your meeting. One trick I do is set my clock ahead by 10 minutes.

I hope these tips have been helpful to you. If you have any suggestions or feedback, please leave them in the comments so we can help each other stay on-time and maintain a great first impression.