A long time ago someone told me there are exactly two non-negotiable principles that must be adhered to if you expect to succeed in business.

1. Always be on time
2. Do what you say you will do

It sounds almost too simple, doesn’t it?  But every time I’ve had a business relationship with a client where I did not violate either of these two principles, in even the smallest way, the relationship  had a solid foundation for success.  And if the business case was there, success did indeed follow.  There still had to be a need or problem that I could address and my output still had to be very high quality.  Those things are a given.  But at least I never had to worry about my client’s lack of confidence in my ability to deliver on time.

Let’s talk about principle number one.  Always be on time.

Did you know that when you show up late for an appointment, you’re communicating one of two things to the other person(s).  You’re giving them the impression that they, and their time and the matter for which you agreed to meet in the first place, are not very important to you.  Or you might be causing them to think that you’re incompetent.

The bottom line is that no one likes to be kept waiting and the problem of being late is very easy to fix.

The first thing you must do is use a calendar and put all of your commitments in there.  If you promise Joseph that you will meet him at Starbucks at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, you should have that exact commitment recorded in your calendar.

Now for a insanely simple little technique that will prevent you from ever being late again.  In the “where” field of your appointment, place the address of where you will meet.  This serves a couple of purposes.

It makes sure you know exactly where the location is, which as simple as it might sound, is the first step to eliminate tardiness.  And if you use Google Calendar, or similar, you can click on the word “map” beside the address and you’re presented with a map that has your destination marked.

Once the map is open, click on directions and either choose your current location, or type in the address of where you will be leaving from for your appointment.  Now you have a fairly reliable estimate of how long it will take you to travel to your meeting.

Here comes the important part.  Add 10 minutes to the time estimate on the map and back up the total time (travel time plus 10 minutes) and place a reminder for when to leave on your calendar.  Did you know that the excuse most people give for being late is traffic?  The typical traffic delay is less than 10 minutes, so with this technique the traffic issue goes away.  And if you don’t encounter any travel delays, and arrive 10 minutes early, simply pull out your mobile device and return a few emails or check in on Foursquare.  And, of course, you can be all relaxed and on top of your game because you’re on time.

BONUS: If you’re using an Android mobile device, you can pull up the appointment, click on the address link and have Google Maps for Android give you turn-by-turn directions to your destination.

Make this a habit and you will no longer have to worry about this silly issue of being late.  Now you can focus all your energy on number two.  Doing what you say you will do.  Do high quality work that is delivered on time and you will be way ahead of many of your competitors.