Today's Business Lessons
Late is not fashionable
You and I both know this, the feeling of waking up fresh and carefree in the morning.
To you, the blaring of alarm sounds like a distant lullaby than a
screechy buzzer. The soft bed cover seems to be taunting, like it’s
telling you to sleep more, five more minutes won’t hurt. So you sleep
more.
But then, something doesn’t feel right and as realization kicks in, you are late. Bam!
You hurry out of your bed and as you check your phone, you happen to
get a message that your boss wants to see you first thing in the
morning. Double bam!
And so you put your clothes, bring your stuff, grab your car keys,
jump into your car and miss every light. You have no choice but to go
through road re-blockings during rush hour and feel totally helpless and
hopeless.
Your mind accelerates and your chest pounds. You imagine the worst;
the face of your boss appears on your windshield as well as in your rear
view mirror. Your mind hears his frustrated tone saying, “I thought you
were reliable but I was wrong.” That’s a terrible feeling, isn’t it?
Luckily, bosses are forgiving. But unluckily, the habitual offenders are unforgiving.
These people are consistently and predictably tardy. They always hit
the snooze button and take their time to dress up. They move in slow
motion, stay too long in the bathroom, brew coffee for too long and
ultimately, miss the appointed time for work or meetings.
They think they are fashionably late, while the rest of us feel like we want to hit them fashionably.
If you happen to belong to this group of people, you need to wise up.
People do not look at you as fashionable; they will perceive you as
selfish, unreliable and disrespectful.
Funnily, these are common ‘reasons’ for being late.
• Traffic is terrible. In this country, this excuse is no longer
acceptable. Heavy traffic in this country is the norm, not an exception.
In fact, so normal that everyone should have known and adapted to it by
now.
• I forgot to set the alarm. This can come across as being
irresponsible. You have your cell phone, you use it for Facebook but you
can’t even remember to set your alarm in it?
• The weather is really bad. If this is the reason, then your boss
might be a bit sympathetic at times. This is understandable, but unless
you live in an isolated island with a different weather pattern, you
cannot use this as a convenient excuse every time.
We all get late, whether we mean it or not. It can be a car that
wouldn’t start, a huge accident in the highway or some other unexpected
delays that go beyond our control.
Remember that one of the quickest ways to lose trust is by being unreliable–or being late.
Don’t project an impression that your time is important and their
time is not. Always protect your reputation; being always on time is
integrity itself.
I wouldn’t want to be known as ‘the late Francis Kong’ (oh, not the
one with death connotation) but the literal ‘the always late Francis
Kong’. Believe me; you wouldn’t want that for yourself.
Don’t be late, and try your hardest not to. It’s never fashionable.
Rather than constantly excusing yourself saying or apologizing, “I am
always late.” Please tell yourself, “I will always be early.”
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