Be the Best You: Time is Everything!
I have heard in the past people complain about people who are late or even a no show to meetings or appointments. I even recently saw someone who made a "A Day In The Life" video speaking about running a small business. This individual went on to say that he is constantly busy and late to everything. He continued and said that if he is on time then he accomplished nothing before that appointment. I watched the rest of the video and advice they were giving and it really seemed like an exaggeration on their part. But it got me thinking, not respecting other peoples time is a major insult. If time is important to you, then you should respect others time as important to them. Leaving them hanging and being late as the rule and not the exception is not going to get you far with your business. Being late is stupid and most of the time is completely preventable. It is called time management and being organized. Plus just because you are "busy" does not mean the things you are doing even are propelling you and your business forward.
Prioritizing your meetings is a must. Having minor meetings taking up time that could be used toward more direct impact work should be something you work to minimize. Put time aside for the bigger work and push out minor meetings that can wait. Do not feel inclined to meet or have an appointment with minor things. These can wait. I am not talking about years, but a month or two is not a bad thing. Tell the company or person you are working on a project and do not have the time currently to dedicate the proper attention for their meeting. Then ask if you can meet a month or two out. Also try not to feel required to accept all you meetings on other peoples schedule. Your schedule is just as important. If you are managing your time you should not be late to most of your meetings or appointments. Pushing something back is not rude, things come up. But being late is rude and delivers a impression to the company or person you are meeting. It tells them they are not important, more so if you do it continually over time.
Being someone who shoots guns and has a concealed carry permit and trains with guns, I will tell you that it is the same thing as people saying "it is the gun not me" when they miss a shot. It is not the appointments fault, it is your fault if you continually are late or missing meetings. In my previous article called "Set Expectations or Get Rolled" I touch on this. If you set peoples expectations and break those expectations multiple times, get ready to see your business fail. Respect for other peoples time needs to be taken into consideration. Maybe only 1% of our population can afford, literally, to be late to everything. But I can guarantee you that they did not make a habit of being late to appointments. You do not need to be stupid early or anything, just be on time most of the time!
