Re: I'm only usually late by 5 minutes…what's the big deal?

[Anonymous]

I’m speaking about the negative impact that lateness can have on your career from personal experience.

Years ago I was in sales/account management for a top medical device company. My clients loved me! They thought I was a great person, very attentive to their needs and extremely knowledgeble, however, time after time they would call the corporate headquarters requesting a different account manager. If they loved me that much why on earth would they want a different account manager you’re probably asking?

Well…my constant tardiness made them feel that I was UNRELIABLE.

My boss sat me down to explain all of this in a meeting and put me on probation. I told him “see…I have this condition called ADHD and it makes certain things, like being on time, very difficult for me.” He let me finish my speech and responded “I have severe ADD and dyslexia but I don’t let it damage my professional reptuation and I don’t use it as an excuse.”

The most important thing that I learned from that heart to heart with my old boss is this: “PERCEPTION IS REALITY!” It doesn’t matter that your intentions are good and that you’re trying to be on time. If the client, boss, co-worker, etc perceives you as being unprofessional, unreliable, disrespectful, etc. then that IS REALITY. You’ll get fired, lose clients and miss out on promotions until you change that perception. Changing that perception requires changing the behavior that has them thinking negatively about you.

It took a couple months for me to come up with a strategy that worked but now I’m rarely late unless it’s something out of my control like a traffic accident that has the expressway shut down. In those instances I call the client with at least 20 minutes notice to let them know that due a major accident I might be late and give them the option to reschedule.

Yes we have ADHD but perception is reality. We can’t tell every person that we encounter about our condition so we have to overcome the challenges it creates as best we can.

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