If You're Early You're On Time...

...if you're on time you're late.

This #weekend-engagement question was:

Are you usually late or early? What does punctuality mean to you and how do you feel people perceive it and respond to it? Explain with examples.

I am obsessively early for everything. It hasn’t always been this way, but since I stepped on the yellow footprints at the age of 18 in Marine Corps bootcamp it has been that way.

In bootcamp they just reinforced, with a very firm hand, what my elders had tried to teach me. That punctuality is a sign of respect and reliability. It demonstrates that you value the time of others and that you are organized.

A recent example of this was when I went for coffee and breakfast with a friend. He arrived early to pick me up. This showed to me that he was respectful of my time and made me very appreciative. It also leads me to believe he respects his own time as well, which he does.

Being early can become even more important when in a professional setting. As an example, when I would conduct job interviews, I would always take notice of the candidates who arrived early. Before the interview they typically were more organized, less anxious, took time to review notes, etc.

It seemed to me the opposite was true for those arriving just on time or late. These people also demonstrated a lack of respect for my time and always hurt their chances of success in the interview process.

The mantra I picked up in the military was if ; “You’re early you’re on time, if you’re on time you’re late.” I still live by that mantra. Much to my wife and kids’ dismay. Sometimes we are way early.

I like to plan for all contingencies and be proactive. This allows me to be well prepared and avoid any last-minute hiccups and undo stress. Being on time to me is the minimum. Arriving early shows you are doing more than the minimum to respect someone’s time.

In the military sometimes time could be the difference between life or death. Punctuality and precision were critical. Safety and mission success would count on timing. Being late could mean someone getting hurt badly or even dying.

It does seem sort of anal for me to still be this way, but it is from years of programming and frankly I think it is good. I don’t plan to change it. It is a rigorous approach to time management, but it will maintain efficiency and discipline in high stakes environments when the time comes.

Thanks for reading,
Joe

_{Note: Images are my own taken with iPhone SE.}