23. Always Be Early

I had a hockey coach once who frequented the phrase “if you’re not 5 minutes early you’re 5 minutes late”. Basically, he wanted to make sure we were on time for team meetings and such. It was a nice sentiment and a good thought for a varsity level university program with championship aspirations, but looking back, it was only an empty threat.

First of all, being late never seemed to come with any consequences, so he rendered his words essentially meaningless to an extent, which is a whole other topic that I won’t get in to today (although you can hear me riff on it in my November 17, 2019 podcast episode titled “How To Make Your Words Mean Something”). Secondly, rather than motivating the team to arrive early, he created shame and fear around being late, yet another topic for another day. My message to you today has nothing to do with the detriment of being late.

My message is very simple. Being early is more important than not being late.