M3 Today Magazine M3 Today Magazine Fall 2018 | Page 16

CHRONICALLY L ATE 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 oft en arrive places too soon. This is annoying, as well, but in a diff erent 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, forgett ing things in your haste, dealing with annoyed people when you arrive…it’s no fun. If you fi nd 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 fi rst 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 fi gures. 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 identifi ed the time by which you need to leave? That’s what worked for me for gett ing my kids to school on time. 16 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 fi nd 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 fi nd. 5. Other people in your house are disorganized? Your wife can’t fi nd her phone, your son can’t fi nd 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 sett ing up the “key things” place in your house. Prod your children to get their school stuff organized the night before — and coax the outfi t-changing types to pick their outfi ts the night before, too. Get lunches ready. Etc.