Time Anal
My mom was a very smart woman. She was always very careful about what she said and to whom. Even her use of sayings or proverbs was meant to convey a very specific meaning. One example I remember is, “If Tim jumped off a cliff, would you follow him?” That was said to make me pause and consider that the request I was making at the time was unreasonable, and I was trying to justify it using one of my friend’s mistakes.
I think I mentioned before that she rarely got mad, and when she did, it was always about some injustice someone perpetrated on one of her family members.
Another characteristic of my mom that I want to share is she was always early by about 10 minutes. She rationalized that she needed that buffer in case there was some unexpected delay in getting to her appointment. I learned this philosophy very well and made it my own.
I feel real anxiety if I can’t leave and arrive at least 10 minutes early. I’ve called my destination on my way to let them know I might be a minute or two late. In fact, just last week I had scheduled a Casey’s pizza to be ready for pick-up at 7:45 p.m. I went to the wrong Casey’s and ended up arriving five minutes late at the location where my actual pizza was waiting. I called the correct Casey’s to let them know I’d be a little late. From their response, I can almost guarantee I was the first customer to call to let them know I would be a few minutes late picking up a pizza.
I’ve termed my condition as being time anal.
Before I retired, I’m sure my staff knew I’d be waiting for them in the conference room at the designated meeting time. Recognizing my own condition, I never gave them a hard time unless they were more than a few minutes late for my meeting.
However, my boss for about 10 years, the chief financial officer, was the polar opposite. She consistently arrived 10 minutes late to every meeting. To the best of my understanding, her boss, the chief executive officer, never gave her a hard time, and, since she reported to him, everyone else just accepted her consistent tardiness. Unfortunately, even though I knew this, I still had to be 10 minutes early for our meetings. Put the two together and I had 20 minutes of mostly unproductive time every time I met with her. It wasn’t completely unproductive; however, because I could invest the time in relationship building or use it to answer emails or review my meeting materials.
“But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be ( let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.” - Mark 13:14-16 ESV
“But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.” - Acts 5:17-21
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’” - Matthew 25:1-9
I guess, based on these scriptures, it seems to be better to be early than late. Thanks, mom!
