The Importance Of Being On Time Essay Example for Free

The Importance Of Being On Time Essay We are successful in life only when we make the best use of time. Time cannot be stopped, paused, or regained. Some point in life whether it be business related, or for leisure, someone or something will require you to be at a certain place at a given time. Punctuality could be the key to winning a contest, finalizing a business deal, or even keeping your job. We all as human beings have been late before, things happen, but constant lateness affects your dependability. If you are not dependable your opportunities for progression will start to decrease. The life of George Washington was characterized by a scrupulous regard for punctuality. When he asked a man to bring by some horses he was interested in buying at five in the morning, and the man arrived fifteen minutes late, he was told by the stable groom that the general had been waiting there at five, but had now moved on to other business, and that he wouldn’t be able to examine the horses again until the following week. When he told Congress that he’d meet with them at noon, he could almost always be found striding into the chamber just as the clock was striking twelve. Washington’s promptness extended to his mealtimes as well. He ate dinner each day at exactly 4 o’clock, and when he invited members of Congress to dine with him, and they arrived late, they were often surprised to find the president halfway done with his meal or even pushing back from the table. To his startled, tardy guest he would say, â€Å"We are punctual here. My cook never asks whether the company has arrived, but whether the hour has come.†( www.artofmanliness.com) George Washington was a perfect example on how important punctuality is, and what opportunities can be missed. For our first president, being on time was a way of showing respect to others, and he expected to be treated with the same level of respect in return. Although no longer live in an age of knickers and powdered wigs, but being pun ctual is just as important as it ever was. â€Å"Soldiers should be minutemen. Punctuality is one of the most valuable habits a soldier can possess.† Christopher Andrews said it the best, when it comes to punctuality in the army is your bread and butter. You could be the best soldier, but if you’re late all the time you can quickly be potrayed as something way less. Being punctual builds and reveals your discipline. The  punctual man shows that he can organize his time, that he pays attention to details, and that he can put aside this to do that ; he can set aside a pleasure to take care of business. The non punctual man shows he needs to be supervised, seems unprepared, and unprofessional. These things are all the things that could stop a soldier from progressing. It is like a domino effect, one consequence leads to another, and leads you down a trail of detriment. Something so simple as being on time can be the key to being allowed to go to a promotion board, or even staying in the military. If the conduct was constant, action may be intiated to separate you from the service. If you are involuntarily separted, you could receive an Honorable discharge, a general discharge, or under other than honorable conditions discharge. An honorable discharge is a separation with honor based on the quality of service, which meets the standards of acceptable conduct and performance of duty. A general discharge is a separation under honorable conditions , based on a military record being satisfactory but not sufficiently meritorious to warrant an honorable discharge. A discharge under other than honorable conditions is based upon a pattern of behavior of one or more acts or omissions that constitutes a significant departure from the conduct expected of a soldier. An honorable discharge may be awarded under any provisions. A general discharge may be awarded for separation under Chapter 5, Chapter 9, Chapter 13, or Chapter 14. An under othe than honorable conditions discharge may be awarded for separation under Chapter 14 for misconduct. If you receive an honorable discharge, you will be qualififed for most benefits resulting from military service. An involuntary honorable discharge, however will disqualify you from reenlistment for some period of time and may disqualify you from receiving transitional benefits. Also the Montgomery GI Bill you have not met other program requirements. If you receive a General discharge, you will be disqualified from reenlisting in the service for some period of time and you will be ineligible for some military and VA administered benefits, including the Montgomery GI bill. You may also face difficulty in obtaining civilian employment, as employers have a low regard for the General and Under Other Than Honorable conditions discharges. Although there are agencies to which you may apply to have the character of your discharge changed, it is  unlikely that any such applications will be successful. Time is the most influential factor in this world. It is abstract. Everything in this world is commanded and decided by time. Nobody can escape the hold of time. It is the time which gives us the opportunity to make use of it. Those who make best use of time and avail those opportunities grow and rise in life. Those who waste their time lag behind. They fail to make any mark in life. He is the wisest who makes the best use of time. He rises to the great heights who keep pace with the time. Time is very important, it should be managed as if each second , minute hour, day is money. After all time is money. If time isn’t important to you, remember its important to someone else. If you are late to something chances are you are wasting someone else’s time. Being late is a form of stealing. That’s a tough truth, but it’s a truth nonetheless. When you make others wait for you, you rob minutes from them that they’ll never get back. Time they could have turned into money, or simply used for the things important to them. In coming to meet you at the agreed upon hour, they may have made sacrifices – woken up early, cut short their workout, told their kid they couldn’t read a story together – and your lateness negates those sacrifices. If you wouldn’t think of taking ten dollars from another man’s wallet, you shouldn’t think of stealing ten minutes from him either. Being punctual shows you value time yourself, and thus wouldn’t think of depriving others of this precious, but limited resource. Even when you are not dealing with work related things being on time is still important to many people, family, and friends. Being late strains your relationships. When you’re late in meeting other people, it makes them feel under-valued, that whatever you couldn’t pull yourself away from was more important or that they didn’t mean enough to you to warrant allotting sufficient time to arrive on schedule. The guest who flies in to see you feels like a dope standing at the airport alone, your date feels awkward sitting at the restaurant by herself, and your child feels abandoned as she waits with her teacher for you to arrive, all the other children having already been picked up from school. This is not the first time you’ve heard that punctuality is important. It’s easy to understand how keeping our appointments and reporting on time is a  sign of respect. This is especially the case for improving employee productivity. If your leader keeps their word about meetings, deadlines and other time-sensitive promises, it’s easy to feel motivated to get things done. Failure to be prompt has consequences. When you are late or blow someone off entirely, you are telling them that your time is more important than theirs. Of course we should all be on time. And naturally, when circumstances pop up we should call ahead to say we are running late. Let’s put aside human psychology and Army mumbo jumbo for a moment, however, and talk about machinery. Time is an essential element in any working system. The spark plugs in an engine have to fire at exactly the right speed. A bridge can hold the weight of a million cars, as long as are spaced far enough apart. A clock quickly becomes useless if every second is not precisely one second long. All of these parameters are designed for increasing employee productivity. Time is important! Being late is like taking the oil out of a well run machine. It gums up the works, cranks up the heat, and causes things to break. When you are late to a doctor’s appointment, you may cause a domino effect that disrupts other patients. And when the doctor is running behind, you may end up waiting for ages thanks to overlapping ripples in the schedule. This problem applies to any business. Improvement is only possible if we recognize that failure to manage time affects everything.