Late is not fashionable

You and I both know this, the feeling of waking up fresh and carefree in the morning.

To you, the blaring of alarm sounds like a distant lullaby than a screechy buzzer. The soft bed cover seems to be taunting, like it’s telling you to sleep more, five more minutes won’t hurt. So you sleep more.

But then, something doesn’t feel right and as realization kicks in, you are late. Bam!

You hurry out of your bed and as you check your phone, you happen to get a message that your boss wants to see you first thing in the morning. Double bam!

And so you put your clothes, bring your stuff, grab your car keys, jump into your car and miss every light. You have no choice but to go through road re-blockings during rush hour and feel totally helpless and hopeless.

Your mind accelerates and your chest pounds. You imagine the worst; the face of your boss appears on your windshield as well as in your rear view mirror. Your mind hears his frustrated tone saying, “I thought you were reliable but I was wrong.” That’s a terrible feeling, isn’t it?

Luckily, bosses are forgiving. But unluckily, the habitual offenders are unforgiving. 

These people are consistently and predictably tardy. They always hit the snooze button and take their time to dress up. They move in slow motion, stay too long in the bathroom, brew coffee for too long and ultimately, miss the appointed time for work or meetings.

They think they are fashionably late, while the rest of us feel like we want to hit them fashionably.

If you happen to belong to this group of people, you need to wise up. People do not look at you as fashionable; they will perceive you as selfish, unreliable and disrespectful.

Funnily, these are common ‘reasons’ for being late.

• Traffic is terrible. In this country, this excuse is no longer acceptable. Heavy traffic in this country is the norm, not an exception. In fact, so normal that everyone should have known and adapted to it by now.

• I forgot to set the alarm. This can come across as being irresponsible. You have your cell phone, you use it for Facebook but you can’t even remember to set your alarm in it?

• The weather is really bad. If this is the reason, then your boss might be a bit sympathetic at times. This is understandable, but unless you live in an isolated island with a different weather pattern, you cannot use this as a convenient excuse every time.

We all get late, whether we mean it or not. It can be a car that wouldn’t start, a huge accident in the highway or some other unexpected delays that go beyond our control.

Remember that one of the quickest ways to lose trust is by being unreliable–or being late.

Don’t project an impression that your time is important and their time is not. Always protect your reputation; being always on time is integrity itself.

I wouldn’t want to be known as ‘the late Francis Kong’ (oh, not the one with death connotation) but the literal ‘the always late Francis Kong’. Believe me; you wouldn’t want that for yourself.

Don’t be late, and try your hardest not to. It’s never fashionable.

Rather than constantly excusing yourself saying or apologizing, “I am always late.” Please tell yourself, “I will always be early.”

(Spend two inspiring days with Francis Kong learning leadership and life skills as he presents Level Up Leadership on June 24-25 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries contact Inspire at 09158055910 or call 632-6310912 for details.)