A Simple Rule

I learned this from my friend Rob Ober and it is a seemingly very small thing with big rewards.

It was probably 30 years ago and Rob showed up at my office early for a lunch appointment. Being late is a huge pet peeve, so I commended him for being early. He was, after all, a very busy person…managing a wholesale auto parts distributor in Maryland. Busy people are always late, right?

Not Rob.

He told me he had a rule. If he was supposed to leave his office at, let’s say, 11 am, and he was able to leave at 10:50 - rather than squeeze in one more phone call, or one more anything - he would leave.

The reason is, that one extra phone call, or whatever, would inevitably take more than the 10 minutes he had to spare. He said building in that margin allowed him to be punctual, and reduced his stress level.

I started doing that too, and it was a game changer. I am seldom late, and when I arrive at an appointment with time to spare I am in a much better frame of mind than if I had to drive at breakneck speed, or text that I was going to be late. It shows more respect to the person I am meeting with, too.

Being early is being on time. Being on time is late. Being late is not acceptable.