A working day’s morning in a working couple’s home is plain crazy …. If there are school going children, it’s crazier ! Breakfast to be made, children to be woken up and dressed for school, lunch to be packed, caffeine fixes through coffee or tea, matching socks’, earrings etc and finally the drive through heavy traffic to reach the office just 10 minutes late. Then you realise you left the ID at home and have to take a temporary badge for the day. By the time you reach your desk, you are 10 minutes late for the first meeting. Phew !
If you don’t plan to be on time, every time, you won’t be on time, most of the time. Being punctual is a habit, not related to your DNA, race, political affiliation or city. It does have everything to do with the culture of the city, the organization and your own mindset.
For today, shift your mindset to being 10 minutes early for all meetings – just requires a little early start, so wake up ten minutes early, pack your office bag the previous night, wake up your children 10 minutes early and hopefully you will be in the office ten minutes early. Two helpful tips, a small investment and a tiny change in one habit will release a lot of time – invest in an alarm clock and keep your phone in the living room at night and not next to your pillow. Try and let me know if these two tips worked.
Be on time, every time and 24 hours will seem like 48 hours :).
I think it is the attitude that matters. If we value time of self and others then we can never be late for anything.
That said, I invest about 5 minutes the previous night and collect all things that I require for the trip next day Like , Cell phone, Pen, watch, camera (if required), I pad / computer , socks, under garments, dress for the next day and sleep only after fully laying out all these items on the table. I never needed an alarm clock since my own biological clock wakes me up at the right time. I have never been late for any occasion during my army service, nor in my retired life of about 21 years now, except on occasions when I got stuck on some unexpected traffic jams.
when that does happen on some rare occasions, I make it a point to call the concerned person I am meeting to tell where I am and when I can be expected to reach.
No, it is not Army discipline. I have come across some of the Army colleagues coming in late and not even feeling guilty about it. I think it is a matter of personal choice to be in time .
Colonel, you are absolutely right. It’s an attitude and a habit … If you want to be punctual you can be, just as one is late because one can be :). Even in this wonderful city of Delhi where it’s fashionable to be late, I have had meetings, training programs start on time … Some have missed the session because they got late, but they never got late for any meeting or training after that, atleast not the ones that I was chairing. :):)