Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Do you feel the pressure rising? Are your palms sweating? Do you feel like you need to be somewhere or do something? Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
It’s time to talk about time and your relationship with it. Are you early for everything? Do you arrive as things begin? Or is start time up for interpretation? Let’s explore how you manage your seconds, minutes, hours and days and what options you have to shift your relationship with time.
Let’s start with The Early-Arrivers
That’s me! I love getting places early and setting up while allowing for unexpected delays or detours. Those almost never happen but in case they do I’m ready for it. If I have a client session at 10:00am, I’m usually where I need to be 5-10 minutes before the start time. It almost becomes a game to see if I can get to where I need to be at an exact time.
Pros: It shows I respect your time by arriving at the agreed upon time. Clear schedules and super-efficient.
Cons: I’m probably going to judge you if you’re late or don’t share a similar belief system around time. I can feel disrespected if you don’t indicate you’re going to be late prior to the time you’re late. Also, when you don’t respect the end time of a meeting, it creates huge frustrations and annoyance. May be a bit high strung around being on time.
Next Up is The On-Time Arrivers
This group gets along pretty well with the Early Arrivers as they have a pretty good grasp on their schedule and allow for contingencies in the schedule. At times they may arrive 5 minutes late, but never more and communicate when that’s going to happen. They get to where they need to be with no wasted time sitting and waiting for the meeting to start.
Pros: Typically on time and up front about scheduling delays. Efficient with time.
Cons: Delays will undoubtedly creep up and throw them off their timing game. They may also be judging the Early Arrivers for not maximizing their time doing other important or fun things.
Finally, the Johnny-Come-Latelys
I seem to attract these in especially in relationships. They get sucked into projects or thoughts and before they know it, they’re late. They typically see the meet time as the ballpark time they should leave the house by. There is plenty of time, no need to rush. It’s all good.
Pros: Relaxed and not rushed by meeting start times. Usually creative-centric and will come up with a good laugh about why they’re late.-
Cons: The completely piss off the Early Arrivers and annoy the On-Timers. They usually don’t do well in corporate settings that value time. Their late arrival times tend to create arguments or sentiments of not caring for their partner.
So what do we do with these three profiles?
For the Early-Arrivers – Know who you’re meeting with and bring a book or something to work with if the individual is typically late. Maximize your time. If someone is chronically late, either leave later yourself or pad in the time and schedule the time earlier for the other party. The key piece: don't take it personally if someone doesn't share your affinity for second counting. It's not about you.
For the On-Timers – Add 5-10 minutes onto your travel time to keep your perfect attendance record flawless. If you have extra time, feel free to get a coffee, you deserve it!
For the Johnny-Come-Latelys – Treat start times as a deadline that you will get fired over if you don’t arrive. Put yourself in the other two profiles’ shoes. What do you think they feel about how you value the relationship by not respecting their time? How would you feel if someone was late or didn’t show up? A little objective empathy may help to light a fire under your but to salvage those critical relationships. If you are going to be late, let people know as soon as you know.
If you need help navigating your time management, schedule a complimentary 15-minute consultation.