On Timeliness...
Do you know anyone who has achieved success in life without having the habit of meeting time commitments?
As I write this I'm thinking of petulant actors/actresses exerting their will on frazzled directors...that behind-the-scenes movie cliché, where one person disrupts everyone else's plans and schedules. On top of that, I'm thinking of the 1992 comedy movie 'Noises Off', which combined this behind-the-scenes movie cliché with a plot that is all about humorous consequences that could happen when people fail to meet time cues in live theatre.
While we can laugh about people messing up timing in movies, we seldom laugh about it in real life.
There are many sayings that capture our consensus view/wisdom around time and timing, as examples -
- Time waits for no man.
- Time is of the essence.
- Timing is everything.
Yet, almost all of us mess up timing, at least once in a while. We forget appointments. We arrive late for meetings. We fail to meet project deadlines.
Some people are habitually late. [Most families have at least one of these types...always late while the meal is overcooking or the cake & ice cream is on hold...waiting.]
Some people are intentionally late. [They act like 'The Royals'...or like they are, by far, the most-important person at the meeting.]
Some people completely lack any talent for timeliness. [Like they have stormy clouds of confusion around their watches and calendars.]
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It seems to me timeliness holds lower priority now than it did a few decades ago.
Do you agree?
How do you feel about timeliness -
- Do you want others to be on time?
- Do you want to be on time?