Be on Time Tip #618

Hi there, I'm Angela Oberer and I just had a conversation with a lady who got fired from

her job for consistently being one minute late for work.

And she wanted to know if I had any good ideas for her getting her job back, because if you

add up all the minutes she was late, it was a total of like 14 minutes.

Now she works a lot of overtime for the company, and she's certainly made up the 14 minutes.

So it's really no big deal right? It is SUCH A BIG DEAL that I thought I would

stop and give a shout out to all my friends of you who are chronically late for work and/or

appointments. Hi there. ;-)

The good news is the problem is curable, and the bad news is it's not about the minutes at all.

Sure there are logistical reasons why companies

run on a schedule, like the doctors appointments, and the airlines. And those reasons are so

obvious we won't even go there. And yes, time is money, and the more money

you have, the more valuable your time is. That is also true.

But the reality is this, and this is the reason you can not be late:

There's an unspoken test that says: "When you are late, I cannot count on you."

Let's say that we are going to meet at 10:00 and I show up at 10:00 and you don't show...

I can't count on you. Now sure, it's just a stupid coffee chat,

and it probably doesn't really matter if you don't show right?

But if I can't count on you when it doesn't matter, I KNOW I can't count on you when it does.

Now from infancy, we are looking for people

in our lives we can count on. It's a survival skill.

We put people through tests every single day of our lives, that say: "Can I count on you?"

And being on time is one of those tests. People put us through those same tests every

day and we put other people through that same test every day. And the answer is always the same.

If you are on time, you can be counted on, if you are late, you cannot be counted on.

It's the same answer to that test. Okay? Every day that you show up for work, your

company is asking: "Can I count on you?" And every single day that you are late you are

saying No, you cannot not.

And this goes way beyond you just being: "I'm disorganized, and I don't value my time, and

I don't respect yours." This is basically saying: "Any distraction can interrupt my

reliability, you can't count on me." Right? So try getting a raise from a company that

can't count on you, in fact, just try keeping your job.

There will be times, there will be times, when you are late.

That's when you pick up the phone and you call and you go: "Hey, it's Angela and I'm

running five minutes late." Because for five minutes, there is someone

on the other end of that call saying: "Can I count on you? Please, please, please give

me a reason to forgive you and believe that I can."

That phone call is yes, maybe I can. So choose to be on time.

Choose to be counted on. Choose to pass that test.

I'm telling you, it is a good idea.

Now that's a good idea.