I can’t be the only one who arrives at least a few minutes early to a scheduled meeting, can I? I hate to be late because I was taught that early is on time. On time is late. And late is unacceptable.
It drives me nuts when someone doesn’t show up for a meeting that had been planned. Or, maybe worse, they show up five or ten minutes late to a meeting.
Photo by Andy Beales on Unsplash
This is easily rectifiable.
There are a few ways to ensure that you will show up on time for your scheduled commitments. We will look at 4 ways to make sure you show up on time in today’s article.
How To Show Up On Time
1. Stop scheduling back-to-back meetings:
One of the biggest culprits in being late is the issue of overbooking. You may book meeting after meeting after meeting only to realize you didn’t schedule any breathing room.
Meetings are known for running long. Meetings running long is a problem, but you can help yourself avoid this issue by better booking your schedule.
Instead of booking your meetings with five minutes of time between them, look to book your meetings with 15, preferably 30, minutes between meetings.
This gap gives you time to process the previous meeting. Scheduling with gaps also allows you to have room for meetings that run late.
2. Use an app to schedule your meetings (with reminders):
I’m a massive proponent of disabling alerts on your phone. The pre-programmed alerts tend to interrupt and disrupt our day.
However, we can use our calendar apps to great effect if we’re intentional.
We all carry our cell phones with us. They’re a staple in our everyday carry items. My phone goes in my pocket shortly after I get up (I know, many will say it is a bad habit to have your phone with you while you sleep but I do).
Since you have a phone with you for 95% of your day, why not use it to keep track of your meetings, alert you when a meeting is coming up, and let you know when a meeting has started?
You can schedule alerts on your calendar with ease. I have it set up as a default to send me notifications and alerts 1 week, 1 day, and 15 minutes before a meeting. These reminders help me to remember when meetings are happening. I can’t say I forgot if I’m reminded multiple times.
You can do the same thing.
3. Be willing to walk out of meetings that run over:
You will get pushback for this but we need to be willing to get up and walk out of meetings that run over the scheduled time. Especially if these meetings regularly run over the allotted time.
You blocked off a specific amount of time to be in the meeting. You have other events scheduled throughout the day.
Take control of your schedule and walk out of a meeting if it will disrupt a meeting later in the day.
4. Realize the value of the people you’re meeting with:
You know your time is valuable. So is the time of the people you’re meeting with.
By showing up late, you’re disrespecting everyone in the meeting.
The people you meet with matter. Show them that they do by showing up on time.
