| I used to think Time Management was all about arriving just one minute before the meeting, and that getting there earlier was wasted time. But actually, it's much better to be 15 minutes early to appointments, and if you're driving then allow maybe even half an hour extra - because then you have no stress at all.
And it's not just about stress - The time you have when you get there early isn't wasted, in fact you might find it's the best bit of your day, ...talking to people you wouldn't normally talk to, or going for a walk and thinking, maybe enjoying a few minutes of sunshine, or looking at the view. Or if the people and the view are both boring - heaven forbid - you can at least do some emails on your phone and get ahead of the game a little.
So arriving early gives you a great feeling of control, almost peace, in your life - and it took me years to realise this!
By the way, arriving early is SO important that if you get waylaid - let's say you are walking through the offices to get to the meeting early, and someone stops you, saying "Hey Chris, can I just ask your opinion on this?" - it's really tempting to say "No problem, I'm ahead of schedule, I've got 5 minutes - (which will turn into TEN by the way) - but No! Don't do that!
Remember that if you hadn't happened to be passing they wouldn't have had this conversation with you, so it's not really that vital, so you should say to them "Sorry Dave, I'm just on my way to a meeting, but shall I call you in the afternoon and we can talk about it then?"
Keep that time buffer - you MUST get to the meeting early, not exactly on time.
So - what's your next appointment, and how can you make sure that you get there nice and early? |
