Why?
- It makes the other person feel important and respected. Which leads to a reciprocated esteem for you. Higher self and others esteem will produce more happiness and more energy and result in a general increase in productivity and efficiency. You are much more likely to have a productive class
- It significantly boosts your own self – esteem. Few things are more reassuring than the feeling that you are in control of your habits and disciplines. Your future is bright because you control your choices; the present is enjoyable because you have enough space and time for each of your ventures; and unexpected events do not upset you because you have the flexibility to deal with them. The inverse is also true. When you don’t have control of your schedule life becomes overwhelming, or even depressing, fast. Your future is bleak because your choices are at the whim of happenstance; the present is stressful because you lack enough space and time to decompress and be fully present; and one unexpected event can unravel your entire life because you lack the flexibility and time to focus on an effective solution.
- So being on time brings a calm focus to your thinking which will energize you to give your best effort to your audience; while being late will literally flood your brain with the stress hormone (https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/ways-to-lower-cortisol#section1) and lead to an unhappy, unproductive rendezvous.
- * By the way, it takes two to tango. It’s important for ALL people to be on time . One Cortisol-Filled brain leads to a diminished atmosphere and lower productivity. Be sure to first demonstrate promptness, to secondly incentivize promptness, and third to enable it. (How to incentivize and enable this? See this POST(coming soon)
- Being Early gives you the space to shift gears. Commuting to work or meetings takes brain energy and involves a different type of activity than conversation. It’s important to have time to transition that brain activity. 10 minutes before starting can allow you to
- lower your blood pressure and body temperature (i.e. RELAX)
- Declutter your mind (You’ve probably been multi-tasking while commuting – listening or watching something while messaging 7 friends and walking/driving all at the same time).
- Visualize your entire time together and how the conversation/meeting/session will go. This makes a world of difference in efficiency and will help the other(s) relax a bit more knowing that they can follow your trustworthy lead in this session. (see this post(coming soon) on how to visualize)
- Be available in case anyone wants to chat/ask questions before the class.
How?
Backwards Planning
For Example…..
9:00 Start Class/Meeting
8:45 Arrive – Visualize/Meditate
8:15 Be in the car (20 mins driving time)
8:10 Be Ready to Walk out the door
7:50 Get Ready (15 mins)
7:20 Cook/Eat Breakfast (25 mins)
7:10 Shower
7:00 Get up
Notice I’ve scheduled extra time for EACH step of the process. This is for 2 reasons:
- We (by ‘we’ I mean ME!) often underestimate the time required.
- With extra time you have the flexibility to deal with unexpected events (lost keys).
What if you’re one of those people who knows how to plan well but struggles to execute it? The alarm goes off but you hit the snooze five times and then rush around like crazy to not be late. Well – you’re probably pretty normal then. This has been a lifelong struggle for me. Check out THIS post(coming soon) to see my painful progress. (measuring/tracking; incentivizing; identifying triggers vizaviz power of habit, eating healthy, sleeping healthy)
Early is On Time
On Time is Late