Time management is a crucial, crucial, soft skill that can add a huge impact on your career. Now, we have a worldwide audience here on YouTube. And I do realize I want to be sensitive here, that there are different perspectives on time. Now I have worked in more than 30 countries. I know there are some differences here. So I want to be sensitive, but I do want to give you what I think is the best general advice that's going to help you and most organizations most of the time and you want to filter through any other cultural restraints are issues here.

You've got to make every second count. And by that I mean, show up on time. The last thing any boss wants to hear is that there was traffic. Well, guess what? There's traffic every day. Nobody cared.

I don't mean to sound mean or nasty or unsympathetic, but I could tell you No boss in the world cares that you had traffic. And that's why you're 15 minutes late plan, plan for traffic, give yourself extra leeway and get there early. And no one's upset if you're there early. That way. If there is traffic, and you left early, you still show up on time. So Time management is critically important.

And unfortunately, high school college Yeah, you may have a teacher say why aren't you late, but doesn't really affect your grade. Most of the time? Well, it does affect your grade. In the real world. If there's a staff meeting at nine, and everyone is there and you walk in at 10 after nine people are going to notice that you're not going to seem professional, you're not going to seem like someone is competent. And this is something that you're going to have to learn everyone's got their own thing.

Style. Some people I know for me, I put things on Google calendars where I'm sent an alert 10 minutes before something I give myself extra time, always assume there's traffic and that way you're not going to be late. I can tell you there's countless countless times when I'm dealing with subcontractors, vendors, I was saying 95% of the time, no one ever shows up on time. I do I still use them and work with them from time to time. Yeah, I have no choice. But when I'm given a choice between someone who shows up on time, and someone who's late or causes Oh, there's traffic on the highway today.

I always pick the person who's on time. People like their own time, they respect their own time worried about their own time more than yours. If you're late, even one minute, you're now wasting someone else's. time. So if you're not an early morning riser, and everyone in the office shows up at eight, you've got to somehow take a nap. early evening, do whatever it takes to get there.

Not every office, every culture can be different. There are Wall Street culture is here in New York City, where everyone shows up at six. If you show up at 6:15am You're the crazy slacker. There are other offices, a lot of law offices, even high tech offices where the normal work day doesn't start till 10. But everyone is there till 8pm or 9pm. You have to know the rhythms of your industry of your organization.

What you don't want to do is be the person who shows up late and who leaves early or leaves right on time. Don't be in such a hurry to get out the door. The second is this isn't Fred Flintstone. Where the the Val is being pulled right at five, the steam is going off and everyone runs out that second. If you are in a particular industry where you've got to punch in and out, that's a different issue. But for most people in most industries these days, these days, especially freelancers, especially subcontractors, you can't seem like you're just there punching the clock, you have to seem like you're focused on the job at hand, the task at hand, working with people, so my advice, get there earlier than everyone else, not two hours earlier, but 510 minutes earlier, a few minutes earlier than the boss.

It's a cliche, it's something they show in Hollywood movies and Broadway shows how to succeed in business, but it really is true. You don't have to get there and you know, have cigarette butts all over your head like you worked all night every night. No one's expecting that and now No one is really impressed by that anymore. But certainly being there a few minutes early, will go a long way. Other aspects of timeliness, are you managing expectations? If your boss gives you a project and you say, when can this be done?

Don't just blindly say tomorrow and then you realize, Oh, it's going to take a week. You think it's going to take a week, perhaps you say, I can have it in seven business days. That way, if it takes five, you've beaten expectations. If you tell somebody I can have it tomorrow, and it takes you four days, they're steaming, and they're unhappy with you. Even if the result is fine. If you tell someone, it's going to take you five days, and it took four days, they are impressed that you beat expectations that you delivered, not only on time, but you delivered early.

So again, this is something that isn't taught in schools. It's not taught in books, but it is a fundamental soft skill that's important for you in your career, other aspects of timeliness, how long does it take you to return a phone call or an email? Every organization is different in some organizations have the boss sends an email. After five, you're not supposed to answer it until the next day, legally, it's not even supposed to get to you. In other organizations, if the boss sends you a text or an email at 11, at night, you don't respond by 1105. Your career is pretty much over, you've got to be aware that you've got to ask people, you've got to get a sense.

You've got to really pay attention to how people are reacting to time. Everyone else working on Saturdays, well, you're going to have to be there too. If other people are doing things, it doesn't mean you always have to work 10 more hours or 20 more hours or put yourself into an early grave. But you do have to be keenly aware of how people relate to time in your organization, your colleagues, your bosses, your subordinates, your customers and your clients, you cannot be a lot slower than other people and expect to succeed. So here's your homework assignment. Do whatever it takes to get to the office or get to your place of business 10 minutes earlier than you're used to just do it for one week.

See if anything bad happens. Also see if anything good happens. Oftentimes, you're the first one there, you can get that call from a great new prospect, or something else happens. That's good. You're, you're there when someone really needs something and you're able to demonstrate your utility, your usefulness and your leadership. So that's the homework assignment just for one week.

Do whatever it takes drive earlier, take an earlier train, get to your office 10 minutes earlier, even if it's your home office. Get to Hear Your computer 10 minutes earlier than you're used to for one week and see what happens.