There are two types of people I tend to surround myself with: The one who is completely aware of time and respects it to a T. They show up 15 minutes early; they let you know if they are running late and apologize profusely. Then there’s the one who is seemingly oblivious that there is indeed a measurement of time and that it won’t stop and wait until you are ready.
I fall into the former category. Sometimes, it’s to my detriment. I can’t stand being late for something for the fear of disrespecting someone else’s time. It will actually cause me a great amount of stomach twisting anxiety. Control freak? Maybe. Whatever it is, I am acutely aware of this measurement and there is no part of me that thinks the clock will pause and then resume again when I am ready. I also don’t like having to wait. When your time is always tight, it’s a huge drag to think it is being wasted.
Yet, there is that small part of me that is a bit envious of those that can get distracted so easily, without a care in the world, and have no qualms about showing up 20 minutes late because they wanted to tinker around in the garage or take that extra phone call. I’m not envious because I want to disrespect, but because it’s such a waste of energy (and time?) to have all that anxiety.
Which are you?
I’m a pretty timely person. I mean things come up, for sure. But for the most part, I am prompt and am driven crazy when others are not!
It really pays to be early, and I mean that literally at times. I lost only one gig because I was late responding to an agent and lost a job. Never again.