Be on time, bust your butt. Play smart and have some laughs while you’re at it. – Whitey Herzog

Whitey Herzog is a Hall of Fame baseball coach. I love this quote because it speaks to both culture and accountability.

Too many people in today’s society selfishly ignore the discipline of time management. When you take time for granted, when you disregard the schedule of others, you clearly show that you are more important that everyone else. When you are late it doesn’t matter what you say, your actions are loud and clear . . . “you aren’t important enough for me to respect.”

Of course, there are times when unavoidable situations create delays. From weather delays to accidents on I-270 . . . there are times any of us can be late. But, and this is a big but, there are ways to mitigate many situations by planning and scheduling effectively. Each of us must be reasonable with our scheduling. We must learn to say “no” to some commitments in order to values those commitments that we schedule. We must be mindful of our own time, place guardrails in our own schedules to ensure we truly demonstrate respect for others.

When you are habitually late, you are saying to those with whom your work, and those in your life, that you don’t care enough about others to plan effectively.