CHRONICALLY LATE
ARE YOU CHRONICALLY LATE ?
TIPS FOR SHOWING UP ON TIME
BY : GRETCHEN RUBIN
MANY PEOPLE have the habit of constantly running late — and they drive themselves , and other people , crazy . I have the opposite problem — I ' m pathologically early , and often arrive places too soon . This is annoying , as well , but in a different way . As I write this , I realize that I assume that chronic earliness is very rare . But maybe it ' s not . Are you chronically early ? In any event , more people seem bothered by chronic lateness . Feeling as though you ’ re always running 20 minutes behind schedule is an unhappy feeling . Having to rush , forgetting things in your haste , dealing with annoyed people when you arrive … it ’ s no fun . If you find yourself chronically late , what steps can you take to be more prompt ? That depends on why you ’ re late . As my Eighth Commandment holds , the first step is to identify the problem — then you can see more easily what you need to change . There are many reasons you might be late , but some are particularly common . Are you late because …
1 . You sleep too late ? If you ’ re so exhausted in the morning that you sleep until the last possible moment , it ’ s time to think about going to sleep earlier . Many people don ’ t get enough sleep , and sleep deprivation is a real drag on your happiness and health . Try to turn off the light sooner each night . 2 . You try to get one last thing done ? Apparently , this is a common cause of tardiness . If you always try to answer one more email or put away one more load of laundry before you leave , here ’ s a way to outwit yourself : take a task that you can do when you reach your destination and leave early . Tell yourself that you need that 10 minutes on the other end to read those brochures or check those figures .
3 . You underestimate the commute time ? You may tell yourself it takes 20 minutes to get to work , but if it actually takes 40 minutes , you ’ re going to be chronically late . Have you exactly identified the time by which you need to leave ? That ’ s what worked for me for getting my kids to school on time .
As I write about in Happier at Home , we have a precise time that we ’ re supposed to leave , so I know if we ’ re running late , and by how much .
4 . You can ’ t find your keys / wallet / phone / sunglasses ? Nothing is more annoying than searching for lost objects when you ’ re running late . Designate a place in your house for your key items , and put those things in that spot , every time . I keep everything important in my ( extremely unfashionable ) backpack , and fortunately a backpack is big enough that it ’ s always easy to find .
5 . Other people in your house are disorganized ? Your wife can ’ t find her phone , your son can ’ t find his Spanish book , so you ’ re late . As hard as it is to get yourself organized , it ’ s even harder to help other people get organized . Try setting up the “ key things ” place in your house . Prod your children to get their school stuff organized the night before — and coax the outfit-changing types to pick their outfits the night before , too . Get lunches ready . Etc .
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