15 minutes early is on time, On time is late, Late is fired.
When I hear that line I think of Jerwaan Lloyd. He was one of our managers when we opened and I still see him come in periodically as guest. He would say this often. And, its a good lesson. But, there is more. Why should I show up early?
1) It shows respect to others. When you are late, you disrespect everybody that is wasting their time waiting on you. You lose influence when you are late.
2) It gives you options. Hopefully you read about my Honda Accord. If I had been planning on being on time, I would have been late. Things happen. Traffic, car problems, you forget something. If you are early, you have options when these surprises come up. And, remember, #1. It doesn't matter why you are late. It's always disrespectful and wastes other people's time.
3) It gives you opportunities. They may be small but sometimes they may become big. As a team member, I learned that the time I'd have for a break was highly variable. I might not even get a break if we were busy. By showing up early, I had the choice of eating before my shift or at least getting a request in for a break before others arrived. First come, first serve. But, it also accumulates into bigger opportunities. Because my managers could count on me to be there they gave me more opportunities. Those opportunities added up to CFA giving me the opportunity to be an operator. If I had only been as reliable as the average team member back then, I would have only gotten the same opportunities they got. Not much. Reminds me of Dave Ramsey's line "live like no one else now so you can live like no one else later."
4) It lowers your stress. Being late, especially to work, creates stress. It distracts you. It's hard to show up late and perform well once you are there. Life and work have enough stress already. Why add to it by being late. That's an unforced error and its hard to win when you beat yourself.
5) It's kind of like waking up earlier than others. The Early Bird Gets the Worm. By showing up to work early, I was able to get some stuff done before my shift officially began. As a leader, this is even more critical. I preferred at least 30 minutes of prep time as a leader before the team needed me to assume my position that shift. I found that by being early, the rest of my day would go well.
6) Personal discipline overflows into other areas of your life. If you can have the discipline to get to work early you probably will have the discipline to do other important tasks. If you can't even show up on time why would you expect somebody to trust you with something more complex/meaningful.
P.S. You could also say "showing up ready to work" is just as important. Early but unready is just as useless. Guys, if you can't be trusted to shave before showing up at CFA, do you really think you'll be trusted with more meaningful opportunities? I hate shaving as much as anybody but come on. It's not hard. Brush your teeth, shave and put on deodorant if you are coming to CFA today... It's not difficult...
