Its 5AM and your alarm clock starts to shriek. Since you are too lazy to get up, you decide to hit the snooze button. In the next hour, you’re already there in your morning routine of haste and panic, rushing your way on the road, busy cursing the traffic jam and the annoying sight of for-display-only traffic lights. You arrive to work panting, dragging yourself through the door while everyone is already hard at work and there you are, walking with crowning glory and confetti shower!
The issue of tardiness in the workplace has become very common. Many of us usually blame our late arrivals to traffic gridlocks, lack of sleep, preparing the kids to school, dealing with pets, forgetting something at home, LBM, hang-over, late night partying (of course you won’t dare to mention this one) and so on and so forth. Okay, you really don’t think that you convince them with your reasons. Your boss doesn’t care about how you get there to work, or how you nurse your children, not even how you answer to all your dogs’ needs or anything else if you come late almost every day!
It’s every individual’s responsibility to manage his time and separate the personal concerns away from the profession. Lack of time management is most likely the primary culprit of tardiness. Having control of our time means having our hands on the wheel of our lives. However, there are things we never consider that probably account for our chronic lateness.
BUSY-NESS MANAGEMENT
No one cares if you fill up your organizer with things-to- do, schedules, appointments, extra-curricular activities or anything else that will make yourself extremely busy. But you are not a super human. Don’t dwell on foolishness that being busy makes your life lived to the fullest. Squeezing as many activities as possible into the time you have available is like embracing the whole world while no one else can. Continuously staying busy creates only unneeded stress and unwanted eye bag. Get time to relax and breathe, it gives you a rest so you can focus more on schedules that really matter.
CHASING THE WIND
Many of us love to cram. We are unable to get things done unless we’re minutes away before the time. When we’re under pressure, the adrenaline rushes, and we feel fully alive making it possible to wake up at 6AM and leave the house at 6:15AM. Again, we’re a frustrated super human! Enough now, stop making yourself believe that you’re functioning at your best by accomplishing things in a rush. The way you do things defines your character. Sometimes, the process matters rather than the result we create.
LOVE YOUR WORK OR PERISH
Maybe it’s not really the lack of sleep that keeps you from getting up each morning. Once the passion for what we’re doing starts to die, our drives to get going also fade. When you’re in love with someone it feels like seeing the wonder of sunshine every morning. But when you’re depressed, you feel tortured having to wake up and go on with the day. The same thing happen when you’re in love with your job that you’re getting excited to work or you hate it much that you pray the day ends even before it starts. It’s either you learn to love your work or never work at all. It’s entirely your choice of liking the job or getting yourself other things to do. Being unhappy anyway is a complete waste of time.
Punctuality is the most demanding workplace ethic. We are all expected to be professional and to perform our job effectively. Productivity gets affected if we are often late and our employer will not be happy about that. After all, we are accountable for our own action. It’s just an option of being hired or getting fired. We all have our choice.
