Are you the person who is early for everything? Or are you continually late?
I worked with a woman several years ago named Mary Brown, and she fit in the latter category. To her credit, she took responsibility and didn't shift blame. In fact, she shared something that stuck with me: “You are either planning on being on time, or you are planning on being late. But either way, you are planning.” How true.
As a teenager, I liked to see how quickly I could do things and still be on time. The result was that I was sometimes tardy. After several instances of showing up late for my first-period class, my teacher, Mr. Yocum, reported this to the principal, who then notified me that I would be spending my free time in detention. My Yocum never chastised me, never called me out in front of others, or never embarrassed me about this. He simply wanted me to know that there are consequences for being late.
When I started my first job out of college, I found myself stressed by the drive to and from work and the fear of being late. The solution was simple. By arriving a few minutes earlier, and staying a few minutes later, I avoided the traffic problems and found much of this stress to go away.
Today, I am rarely late because I plan on being early. So, yes, tardiness problems can be fixed, at least for me. I credit this to lessons learned from Mary Brown and Mr. Yocum. How about you?
Have a tardy-free Thursday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305 | 
