by Lori Milner: author, entrepreneur, thought leader and founder of Beyond the Dress
If you’re chronically late, how do you start showing up on time? Many people have the habit of constantly running late — and they drive themselves, and other people, crazy. Now, I have the opposite problem — I’m pathologically early, and often arrive places too soon. This allows me to arrive relaxed, calm and confident; I also always sure I keep reading material on me like my Kindle so I can feel productive while waiting. I make sure I don’t make it someone else’s problem that I arrive early and wait for the scheduled time before calling them.
In any event, more people seem bothered by chronic lateness. Feeling as though you’re always running twenty 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? According to best-selling author, Gretchen Rubin, that depends on why you’re late. She says that 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. Here are some of the common causes of being late according to Gretchen:
- You sleep too late: If you’re so exhausted in the morning that you hit the snooze alarm five times, 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.
- 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 ten minutes on the other end to read those brochures or check those figures.
- You under-estimate the commute time: You may tell yourself it takes twenty minutes to get to work, but if it actually takes forty minutes, you’re going to be chronically late. Have you exactly identified the time by which you need to leave? And to be safe, always add on an extra 15 minutes. It also helps to put alarms in your calendar to alert you 5 minutes before you need to get going.
- 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.
- Your co-workers won’t end meetings on time: This is an exasperating problem. You’re supposed to be someplace else, but you’re trapped in a meeting that’s going long. Sometimes, this is inevitable, but if you find it happening over and over, identify the problem. Is too little time allotted to meetings that deserve more time? Is the weekly staff meeting twenty minutes of work crammed into sixty minutes? If you face this issue repeatedly, there’s probably an identifiable problem – and once you identify it, you can develop strategies to solve it — e.g., sticking to an agenda; circulating information by email; not permitting discussions about contentious philosophical questions not relevant to the tasks at hand, etc. (This last problem is surprisingly widespread, in my experience.)
- You haven’t considered how your behaviour affects someone else: A friend was chronically late dropping off her son at sports activities until he said, “You’re always late dropping me off because it doesn’t affect you, but you’re always on time to pick me up, because you’d be embarrassed to be the last parent at pick-up.” She was never late again.
- You’re rushing around in the morning before you leave the house: Consider waking up earlier (see #1 above). Yes, it’s tough to give up those last precious moments of sleep, and it’s even tougher to go to bed earlier and cut into what, for many people, is their leisure time. But it helps.
- You hate your destination so much you want to postpone showing up for as long as possible. If you dread going to work that much or wherever your destination might be, you’re giving yourself a clear signal that you need think about making a change in your life.
So think about the why and then start to take action to show up as the best version of you..on time!
Warm wishes,
Lori
LORI MILNER is the engaging facilitator, thought leader and mentor known for her insightful approach to being a modern corporate woman. Her brainchild, the successful initiative Beyond the Dress, is the embodiment of her passion to empower women. Beyond the Dress has worked with South Africa’s leading corporates and empowered hundreds of women with valuable insight on how to bridge the gap between work and personal life. Clients include Siemens, Massmart, Alexander Forbes, Life Healthcare Group, RMB Private Bank and Unilever to name a few. Lori has co-authored Own Your Space: The Toolkit for the Working Woman in conjunction with Nadia Bilchik, CNN Editorial Producer. Own Your Space provides practical tools and insights gleaned from workshops held around the world and from interviews with some of South Africa’s most accomplished women to provide you with tried-and-tested techniques, tips and advice to help you boost your career, enhance your confidence and truly own your space on every level. Own Your Space is the ultimate ‘toolkit’ to unleash your true power. It’s for the woman who wants to take her career to new heights and who is ready to fulfil her true potential.
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