Once I heard a personal development speaking emphasize that the most important principle to success in anything is… to show up, and be on-time.
I have noticed the bus system runs a very tight clock. No matter where you are you can count on the bus showing up and on-time. It’s one thing they do that amazes me. How do they do that? There are so many variables a bus route handles on every run and they change each time around on a route. If there is anything impressive about the drivers is their skill in handling customers, stopping here and there, waiting for slow traffic or lights, and still go from stop to stop on-time. As a patron, and those in the business setting, being on-time is quite important. We need to plan the day, when and where we will be and make sure we get there… on-time. The bus system provides a very reliable way to do that.
When I go to meetings it seems today many come in a few minutes late. If the bus system teaches a person anything it is, if you are late, no ride. They are on-time, so the rider needs to be on-time too. Now think what would happen if wherever you go, if you arrived five minutes late, that the meeting, appointment, activity was cancelled for you. You could not attend or be part of it. Sounds too extreme? Five minutes late, six times a day equals a loss of two and a half hours a week… three full weeks a year.
Riding the bus creates this discipline in a person. If a business would insist their people ride the business once a quarter it could make the skill of… learning how to be on-time... become more a part of their habitual behavior.
On-time is critical to getting up, going to work, making appointments, meeting project deadlines, paying the bills … being on-time affects all parts of our lives and it has the biggest impact on our own life outcomes. You can count on on-time with the bus and plan a day very precisely.
Just another lesson of life I have learned from riding the bus.
“You may delay, but time will not.” Ben Franklin
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