CHAPTER TWELVE
ARRIVE JUST IN TIME
Punctuality is the soul of business, so a popular cliché says. In every champion is a time keeper. No matter how little the challenge, even those who are not champions know that to face the challenge, one must start the challenge on time.
Before a football match is played, players have to arrive from both teams accompanied by their coaches. Any player who arrives latter than when his team is supposed to be on the pitch is considered not ready for the match. No matter the super champion status of the player, once it’s time for the match to kick off, the referee will call for it without the player. The player has to sit on the stands when he arrives.
In a race, the same value for time holds. All the runners must arrive just in time for the race. The umpire doesn’t care whether you warm up for the race or yes. All he cares is that when he calls for the athletes at the starting line, they are there. Any athlete who isn’t on the line even if he is the world athletics champion will miss the race
Students who re preparing for examinations are aware that they have to be just in time for the examination before the examiner calls for it. A student wouldn’t come thirty minutes after and expect the examination to be offered him. It is against the ethics of examination and he should not expect to pass it a minute later than other students.
Champions understand the value of being punctual whether to business or any venture they are undertaking. They prepare to not just be on time but to be far ahead of the time. Champions acknowledge that the time before the event is good enough time to warm up in anticipation of the event. They don’t just rush in to the event just because they are to keep to time.
You’d notice in a track and field event that the athletes arrive on the track some minutes earlier to warm up. This is to put them is shape for the race. Footballers do same too. The players are on the pitch at least thirty minutes before the race to familiarize with the pitch and stadium. Every sport has the same attribute. Even students preparing for examination understand that the few hours before the examination at the venue of the exam could be very useful. Champions understand this vital secret of success. They prepare themselves always to be available few hours to an event so that in a situation where the event is brought forward or postponed, they would not be caught on the ropes.
The secret of punctuality is that it reveals ones seriousness. Champions are serious people. When you appear late for an event, you are invariably showing that the event is unimportant to you. Punctuality is also used to measure the faithfulness of a staff. Business people look out for the punctuality statistic top ascertain those who are doing their work and those who are not.
The quality of any service offered is considered importantly on how timely it arrives. For example, if person wants a home service from a reputable food company and he calls for the company only for the company to arrive four hours later, however reputable the company and good the service, the buyer may lose interest for the food and perhaps has found elsewhere to solve his hunger problem before they arrive.
We need to acknowledge the importance of setting the time priority right. This is why companies who offer home services develop networks and dispatch systems that ensure that at least they are always thirty minutes from the time the client called for the service.
It’s amazing how people say, I don’t need to keep time, and I’m the boss. Sure bosses need to keep time too. Sure bosses need to keep time too. As much as they own the business, they have to keep the business running fit.
One amazing attribute about this quality is that it molds you into a better person overtime. You may ask how? It enables you garner amazing attributes such as focus, time management, time keeping and personal management. You also learn to be diligent.
A person who learns to be punctual develops high focus towards institutional goals of the company he works with or the competition he is driving at. This is because he is often always relaxed for the event and any event that arrives against the man who runs into his office late and hops straight to his job almost immediately. The later gets startled especially at projects that require immediate action. This thus leads to waste.
As one strives to be punctual, it develops one into time keeper. You become cautious and conscious of how much time you spend in pursuit of one event when you could do more with the time. Time is precious so a champion has to know how to use it judiciously and wisely so that he could have more of it.
You learn to manage yourself. You know where to go and where not to. You learn that you don’t have to be at a place past a particular time when you should be at your bed sleeping, resting or when you should be at the gym working out or doing something in the direction of your goal.
Acknowledging that you just have to be on time and in time for any event can make you a better person altogether. You learn to do your things faster than the average person will and you increasingly become more conscious of yourself and your set goals and targets.
We often think we are running against time. True, time isn’t our friend but it depends on our understanding of this vital ingredient of life. Time can begin to run after us when we know its place in our lives and how to manage it so that it doesn’t become too important as to keep us running every time in its pursuit.