If you want to improve productivity, then just start; get there on time. Whether it’s a meeting, flight or appointment or a date, ensure you are there when you say you’ll be there. This may feel like an old-fashioned tip to give, but it can serve you well.
Being on time is respectful to your hosts and also means you can effectively manage your day. Once you get behind, it’s hard to catch back up again. Being punctual doesn’t mean rushing around the whole time. I can always find time to exercise- cycling, horseback riding — and to spend quality time with my loved ones. It simply means effectively organizing your time each day.
Of course not everything goes according to plan. It isn’t always possible to be on time, but it’s always possible to try. When I find that I am running late, I am quite often literally running. Once I was taking sunrise pictures at Yellowstone National Park. I do photography as a side business and hobby and wanted to get some great pictures on my trip. Because I didn’t have my alarm go off at the appropriate time, I woke up and was scrambling to get my photography gear together. I barely made it before the sun rose to get those crisp colors as they were coming over the mountain side and peaking through the trees.
I was once going to a job interview and had a bad accident on the freeway. It took me 15 minutes longer than anticipated. I pulled in and was literally running in my heels (which is very hard to do for me,) to make my appointment with only minutes to spare. I had even planned to be there 10 minutes early to be punctual, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out how we planned and instead was there 3 minutes before interview time.
Being on time doesn’t mean you have to run a strict, rigid schedule though. It means being an effective delegator, organizer and communicator. If it isn’t going to be possible for me to make an appointment, I make it clear and apologize. If possible, find someone on our team who can go in your behalf and ask them to collect feedback for you. If it it really isn’t possible to be on time, call ahead and let them know.
Being punctual is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many things you can do to become more productive. One easy way is using PlanPlus Online. We are great for helping get your life or business together and increasing productivity. If you would like to get started visit our product page to pick the version that is best for you or give us a call at 801.438.3460 if you’d like help picking the right version to get a 7-Day free trial of and we’d be happy to set it up for you.
