Late

This is a picture of vultures hanging out in a graveyard. Now we all know how vultures feed themselves, so they are wasting their time here because they are, of course, late. These guys represent: opportunity lost, simply because of missing a manageable timing issue.

Once while listening to a national TV talk show host, I caught the tail-end of a discussion about someone trying to determine why they were always late. No mater how hard they tried, seems that they were rarely, if ever,  on time to anything. The importance of the meeting did not seem to matter either. They were just as late to high value meetings as they were to low value meetings. The host listened for several minutes as this individual shared the many justifiable reasons they were late to everything! After a few seconds the host asked: "Why do you think your time is so much more valuable that anyone else's?" The individual was highly offended and proclaimed that they did not feel, at all, that their time was more valuable, they simply had so much to deal with that they found it almost impossible to be on time. The host countered and said: "Of course you think that your time is more valuable that anyone else's, otherwise you would not waste the other persons time by being constantly late."

When you are on time, you demonstrate your commitment to the value of the opportunity. Being on time is almost always a matter of proper preparation. Whatever the planned opportunity, make certain that you have factored in enough time to get ready with everything you need to make the most of the meeting, but that you also factor in enough travel time (walking down the office or driving across town) to arrive early. Get to the meeting, ready and early, it matters!