Early

In the very first opera rehearsal I ever attended in my very first year of undergrad, the conductor gave a stern warning to all of us in the show.

"If you are not ten minutes early, you are ten minutes late,"

Those words are my mantra and allow me the freedom to be as early as I want. I find it comforting to be in a theater by myself well before the other singers arrive. Likewise, I am happy to get to airports early. If I am working with a new company, I usually tell them, "if I am not there by five minutes before rehearsal, then panic."

When I was younger and my voice was not as consistent, being on time was a way to show that I was a professional, despite my slightly weaker voice.

Today I am at least three hours early for my flight to Albania. I might be taking this a little too far, but no one was ever fired for being early.