5 reasons why being on time is important

Do you think being on time is important? And if so, how important is it? Being a company that focuses on time tracking, our response is obviously biased 🙂 But ask just about anyone (regardless of whether s/he is on time) and chances are that the answer would be “Of course, it’s important”.

Importance of being punctual

Being on time, matters. It communicates whether others can trust you and rely on you. It tells others how you view yourself and them and how important your relationship with them is to you. So professionally, can you afford not to be on time? Being consistently on-time or even early is a great way to make yourself stand out from the crowd and create a fantastic first impression.

Barring true emergencies, there’s really little excuse for not being on time. Being on time is completely within your control. You know most of the factors that control being on time. Taking ownership of them and making sure that you’re punctual shows that you value the other person’s time and relationship. King Louis XVIII of France said “Punctuality is the politeness of kings”. Let’s look at why being on time is important.

1. Being late weakens your position: When you’re late, you start off on the wrong foot. You don’t want to start an important meeting with an apology. Not only will you be stressed and scattered, you may make the other person question their choice of working with you. If you can’t be trusted to be on time, what are the chances that you can be trusted with a customer’s money?
2. When you’re not on time, you’re stealing: If time is money, then by being late, you’ve actually taken something of value from the other person. And that is definitely NOT a great way to start business negotiations or relationships. The other person feels that they’ve already given you something, so they’re not likely to make any other concessions.
3. Being late sends a lot of bad vibes: Being late tells others a lot about you, your integrity and dependability, and your respect for others. It tells them that you value your own time more than theirs, and that you think that whatever you were doing was more important than what they could be doing with their time. It shows disrespect and disregard and tells the other person that you are disorganized. None of which are great starts to a relationship.
4. There’s no good excuse: Other than a real emergency – and sleeping late or traffic don’t make the cut – being on time is 100% within your control. And it’s not difficult. It takes some planning and organization, but compared to most other challenges at work, being on time is simple.
5. Being late wastes time and money: When you’re late, you’re not getting yourself a few “extra” minutes. You’re throwing away those minutes on things that could have been done correctly with just a little bit of planning. Being late means that you create a lot of extra work for yourself in rescheduling meetings, or follow-up meetings because you couldn’t complete your full agenda, Or you could slow down another project because of the time that you lost on this one. And that’s all in terms of time. Now think about the effect on money. Have you ever missed a flight because you were late? Does your kid’s daycare charge you by the minute when you pick up your kid late? Have you paid extra for parking because your meeting ran over? Being late can lead to costly mistakes.

So we encourage you to take pride in being a person who is always on time and prepared for your appointments. After all, there’s no downside in being early, but there’s a significant downside to showing up late.

So what are your tips for being on time? Do you think being on time is important? Please share your tips and thoughts with us.