I found myself, once again, defending my chronic tardiness this weekend with regards to a video I was watching online. The particular topic which sparked the debate was referring to standard business practices, and how to become the C.E.O. of a company. One of the most constant and regurgitated statements is to basically ‘be the first one to enter and the last one to leave.’ I get that, I do really, however I feel most people take it in as a black & white situation and begin to shun those who aren’t adjusting themselves into those specific traditions. I’m not saying that you can be a complete sloth, although there are always exceptions. What I’m saying is that people need to understand that these are the suggested common best practices. Suggested. It’s not the absolute, and end-all solution, nor are the other majority suggestions.

Being the first one in the office & the last one to leave seems like it’s more for show than about being dedicated. Sure, I understand that isn’t the case most of the time, as most pragmatic people do have the best intentions. Yet in contrast, what about those like me who are seemingly more nocturnal by nature and tend to put in more work, after hours. I’m constantly criticized by corporate ‘folks’ because of my, admittedly, bad habit of constantly being late for everything. Anywhere from 9ish-10ish is when I arrive to work. This obviously goes against the grain of corporatism, so I must not want to become a successful CEO and/or Mogul right? Wrong. What everyone always seem to neglect or refuse to acknowledge is how much work I, and others actually put in. On average I get about 3-4 hours of sleep a night. All I do is work, yet the person who is “most likely to succeed” is the person who’s putting in 4 more minutes of their required 8hours?!

Now, I suppose I could just make my life a whole lot easier and just do the exact same thing as CEO Joe over there, but I won’t. Why? Because I refuse to follow along the path and become an addition to the herd of sheep grazing on the grass of followshipers™, instead I’ll take the trail of most resistance. Sure I’ll gain plenty of battle scars, and it may slow me down a bit, but it’ll make for a darn good book and an Oprah appearance. Nonetheless, it won’t stop me from becoming the H.N.I.C.!