Time is valuable. Time is not something people willingly waste. And, most people’s schedules are so jam-packed, that time becomes something that drives each day. We live appointment to appointment, meeting to meeting; so, when you are late, you throw someone else’s day completely off course.

When you schedule a business lunch with a prospective client at 12pm and you cruise up to valet at 12:17pm, you not only show poor time management skills, but you signal to the person you are meeting that her time is not important. The prospective client is sitting at the table alone, checking emails, waiting for you to arrive. You have not only managed to annoy her, but you have sent a clear message that her time is not as important as your time. And, as she sits there drinking a watered down lemonade, she wonders how you handle your workload, if you can’t manage to make it to lunch on time. Ultimately, she does not hire you and you lose a potential client. Her mind was made up at 12:13pm; four minutes before you ever arrived. Bottom line, be on time.