A few weeks ago, I posted one of my most read articles, ‘Are You Late All The Time?’. I received a huge response from readers (thank you!), all letting me know they are either mending their ways or will take charge with late people in their life.
Here’s a little secret about Rich Gee — I am an avid Vince Flynn Fan — I read all of his books. I am currently in the middle of one of his older novels, Act of Treason. Not to get into the story, but there’s a great description of people who are habitually late for meetings. I’ll quote it in it’s entirety (it’s so good):
“When someone is constantly late, they fall into three categories.”
“The first, he called idiot savant. The type of person who is so smart in his or her field of expertise that their mid is literally elsewhere. In layman’s terms he explained that these people were smart in school and dumb on the bus.”
“The second category was made up of perfectionists, people who were incapable of letting go of one task and moving on to another. These people were always playing catch-up, rarely rose to any real position of power, and needed to be managed properly.”
“The third category, and the one to be most wary of were the egomaniacs. These were the people who not only felt that their time was more important than anyone else’s, but who needed to prove it by constantly making others wait for them.”
WOW. The only thing I would add to this description — one can share elements of each category. So you can be a perfectionist with a little idiot savant. Or a bit of an egomaniac (be honest, we all are at one time or another) with a dash of perfectionism.
Or all three. Coming from someone who is maniacally early all the time — it’s hard for me to understand habitually late people. Now I do.
Is there a diagnosis for people like me who are always early? Where do you place yourself? I’d love to know — comment below.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Rich,
The smartest thing you do when you arrive early is prepare yourself with something to do. One of my deterrents to arriving early (and therefore sometimes on time) is that I hate the idea of killing time when I have SO much to do at my home office. You always bring your office WITH you. Kudos! You really walk the talk.
-Matt
Rich,
Some who arrive habitually early are also egotistical – they sit in judgment of all who aren’t “as perfect” as they are themselves, and therefore arrive late. Some are just considerate of others’ time, and are therefore polite, and good ‘team players’. Others were just taught it’s the right thing to do, to honor others’ time by not wasting it. Unfortunately, I have not idea how to tell ‘who’s who’ in this regard.
I will say that years ago, my boss sat me down and asked me why I thought I was better than everybody else (which I did not, and I think he knew I did not). After a lengthy discussion, I realized that the message I was sending by being late (or at least the message being received by others) was that I thought I was better than everyone else. Some of the best coaching I’d ever had, and it worked! It’s amazing how much you can get done conversationally/relationally while waiting for a meeting to start!