The alternative to being late is to be early (or, on time, I suppose). When you are late, you procrastinate. You miss things, meetings have to be rescheduled, and you are rushed and not focused.

There are very few people who are truly "late" people. A "late" person is someone who does not have a good relationship with the clock. They are 10 minutes late today, 20 minutes late tomorrow. The next day, they are 11 minutes early. There are very few people like that. Most people who are late have a consistency about their lateness.

My friend Jack is 20 minutes late, all the time. Jack is not "late". Jack is on time...20 minutes later.

Chain Yourself

Perhaps, it is 4:00 p.m. and I have to work on a long, tedious and boring project. I want to leave at 5:00 p.m. but I start to chew up the time searching for pads of paper, getting coffee, etc., until about 4:20 p.m., when I have license to say "Well, it's too late to start on this." Sound familiar?

When this occurs, I chain myself to the desk. (I do not use a real chain because people would think I was really weird.) I use an imaginary chain and tell myself I cannot move until this is done. I will also give myself a positive treat or reward at the end. It is a silly mind game, I know. But it also is a silly mind game to chew up the time. At least this has a positive benefit.

Just Say No

"No" is sometimes difficult to say because you have been taught differently. You have been taught to say, "yes", to please, to serve, and to accommodate. There is nothing wrong with saying "yes" most of the time, but occasionally there is a line you choose not to cross, when saying "yes" is really not the best use of your time to get you to where you need and want to be.

If you had unlimited amounts of time, you could "yes" all the time to everyone. But you don’t. You have 24 hours each day, 7 days a week for a total of 168 hours. And you get to spend that time only once, so you have to spend it wisely.

The point is, if you are ever in a position when you can never say "no", then you are always saying "yes", and like the song says, "If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for everything".

Published: December 30, 2003

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