For some people no matter how early they get up, they are still late for work. The same applies to almost every sphere of their life. Everyone knows someone who is just never on time no matter what the occasion.
In an article published in Time magazine, management consultant Diana Delonzor said that according to a study conducted by her at San Francisco State University comprising of 225 people, 17% of them were chronically late. She also found that people who were late tended to procrastinate more, demonstrated trouble with self-control and were more prone to habits such as overeating, drinking too much, gambling and impulse shopping.
They also showed an affinity for thrill-seeking and displayed ADD like symptoms such as restlessness, trouble-focusing and had attentions issues.
“People who are chronically late are often wrestling with anxiety, distraction, ambivalence or other internal psychological states,” said Pauline Wallin, Ph.D, a psychologist in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.
Late people seem to have an optimistic outlook believing they can cram many things into a day and underestimating the time taken to get from one place to the other.
A few simple tricks to stop being late include the following:
1. Estimating before hand how long it will take to get to your destination and then allocating extra time for it.
2. Be sure to have clocks on display in your home or office space because good old fashioned clocks as opposed to digital ones work well as a visual cue. Also set an alarm not just to wake up in the morning but for appointments as well as an indicator for when to leave.
3. Make deadlines for yourself, for tasks that have to be finished and make these ahead of the actual deadline so you won’t be chronically late.
4. Never try and do one last thing before leaving as that has a tendency to make you late.
5. Some people have this perception that their time is more valuable than other people’s, this ego centric attitude leads to you being ok to make others wait but not vice versa. Change this as it won’t serve you well in the long run. The impression you give when you are punctual and the consideration for other people’s time far outweighs anything else that you do with your precious time.
6. Always plan ahead and take into account contingencies like traffic and other delays that might occur. Aim to be wherever you’re going at least 10 minutes early which gives you a margin of errror.
Remember the most important factor in beating the clock is actually making a conscious decision to change and not just to ‘try’ to be on time which never really works.