6 Reasons Why it Makes Sense to Arrive Early
Why bother showing up early when you can blame any number of things for “making” you late? There’s traffic, a convenient ally when you need her. A distant cousin to traffic would be a freeway accident, which of course creates traffic. Then there’s the blatantly obvious excuse of sleeping through the alarm which causes you to get on the freeway late and immerse yourself in- you guessed it- traffic. All of these are convenient excuses for lateness but there’s a flip side- being early is way cooler.
When you’re early you get the best seat. Just like when you get to church early or a movie theatre 10 minutes before the show begins, seat selection is the name of the game. If it’s a meeting, get some distance from whomever will be running the show. If it’s a presentation, get a spot that will not cause you to visit the chiropractor due to the way you had to twist your body to see the PowerPoint presentation. When you’re early, you get to choose the ideal location for optimal learning and interaction with your peers.
When you’re early you can prepare your gear. Ever see a person squirm to find their cell phone as it embarrassingly goes off during a meeting? If they had arrived early…you get the point. Arriving early affords you the chance to put your laptop in “go” mode and your cell phone in vibrate mode. Your paper and pen are just where you want them to be and you’re ready to roll.
When you’re early you can hear the boss complain about the guy who is running late- at least he’s not complaining about you! I’ve been in many meetings where the boss looks to us and says, “Anyone know where Joe is? He does know that the meeting is right now, doesn’t he?”
When you’re early you can look over the agenda. If your meeting planner didn’t mail you one in advance, arriving early lets you peruse what’s on the horizon and any mental notes that pop into your head can be written down as others are arriving. Sure, there’s an agenda prepared for you but arriving early lets you think about what you want to cover in the meeting.
When you’re early you can fix your coffee. I like coffee with my creamer so arriving early lets me prepare things the way I want, rather than a bland cup of joe the way someone else wants. It’s a small thing but it saves you time in the long run. If you arrive late, you’ll want to get something to eat or drink but will feel guilty because you’ve already make a scene by being tardy. This will occupy about 5-10 minutes of your time and who wants to waste more time by worrying about something as small as caffeine?
When you’re early you are just plain cooler. Just like being organized, early folks have their ducks in a row and know what they’re about. They might be paranoid about being late or they might be neurotic about the clock, but let’s face it- early people gain a huge advantage because they are attentive to the smallest of things.
Mike St. Pierre is the host of The Daily Saint, a productivity blog focusing on work-life balance. www.thedailysaint.com
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Comments
Mary says on September 6th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Coffee puts the system under the strain of metabolizing a deadly acid-forming drug, depositing its insoluble cellulose, which cements the wall of the liver, causing this vital organ to swell to twice its proper size. In addition, coffee is heavily sprayed. (Ninety-two pesticides are applied to its leaves.) Diuretic properties of caffeine cause potassium and other minerals to be flushed from the body.
Get the real scoop on coffee at http://www.CaffeineAwareness.org
And if you drink decaf you wont want to miss this special FREE report on the Dangers of Decaf available at http://www.soyfee.com
Ari says on September 6th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Mary is a downer, do some extensive heavy research on nearly anything and you’ll reach an ambiguous conclusion. Skip it all and just decide to indulge yourself in the things you like. Stay away from the harder stuff though.
Tony says on September 6th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Arriving early does make you cooler. Gets you the good chair too.
Oh, and sounds like Mary is a spammer.
catherine says on September 6th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
Arriving slightly early also suggests that you’re interested in what’s about to happen, that you’re organised, and that you respect other people’s time.
Arrive TOO early though and it suggests you don’t have enough to do, you’re trying to avoid being somewhere else, and you aren’t organised enough to plan more efficiently.
There’s a slim window in which to send the right message.
Jeanie Marshall says on September 7th, 2007 at 4:41 am
Arriving early gives you time to relax and be friendly to others as they arrive.
Great post!
Make this a Magnificent Day!
mike st. pierre says on September 7th, 2007 at 5:21 am
Thanks everyone for your comments on my article!
Mike
Jenn Vargas says on September 8th, 2007 at 12:18 am
Your points are so right, and complete!
I am such an early person. I find that I can relax so much more when I arrive early, and because of that I’m able to focus more on whatever it is I’m doing.
And, as Catherine said, it’s a great way to make a good impression. It shows that you’re dedicated and organized enough not to show up at the very last minute fumbling around.
barefootwriter says on September 9th, 2007 at 1:07 am
I insist on arriving early for anything important.
When I began the job I currently have, I caught the wrong bus (the same number bus has 3 different routes here — go figure). Fortunately, even with travelling well past my destination and catching a taxi back, I was only 15 minutes late for my first day, and was able to call ahead before I was due and let them know.
When I’m taking classes and show up early, I get valuable face time with the instructor, and can help out if he or she needs a hand with anything. I love teachers just for the fact that they’re teachers, but I also recognize the power of the brownie point.
I concur with catherine, though. . . arriving too early does send the wrong message. When I interview people for jobs, I expect them to show up right on time or slightly early, but if you’re more than about 10 minutes ahead of the game, find a coffee shop or a nice walk and make yourself scarce. We had one fellow sit on the curb alongside our office driveway for a half hour or so. It was kind of cute, but completely newbie.
Benjamin says on September 9th, 2007 at 1:23 am
There was a Seth Godin post a while back, where he said “howing up on time… …with a smile on your face is almost always more important than what you actually say or do.” - I think you’ve done a good job of adding 6 reasons to back that up.
Jolene says on September 15th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
I am one of those chronic late arrivers. I have been reading productivity blogs all evening in an effort to psyche myself up into arriving early or at least on time. I really need to get out of my lateness habit. It’s amazing I haven’t been fired yet. Thanks for the tips on your blog, it’s great reading.
Paresh says on September 17th, 2007 at 7:01 am
Ya ,I read this article and found it very realistic . Many of the advantages of being early as mentioned here are true .
Anywhere when you reach early you are the most comfortable person and this really has a effect on your overall confidence level than and also a early beginner is the most likely one to win the race .