How to be punctual
In this article: Get on the way quickly Develop better habits Change your attitude towards being late Related articles References
Being late to every appointment and every event is stressful for yourself and can make others wonder if you really are someone they can count on. You probably wish you could always be on time wherever you go, but punctuality doesn't come naturally to everyone. The good news is that you can train yourself to be on time, every time, by changing your habits and the way you approach punctuality. Get to step one and read on to learn some strategies that will help you become a punctual person and stay that way.
Method
1
Get on the way quickly
1
Prepare all your things the day before. If you're not sure why you're constantly late, analyze everything you do before you leave home. You've probably given yourself some time to prepare and still find yourself rushing to finish a bunch of things before you can leave. If everything is ready for you to leave, you won't have to overcome all those hurdles to get where you need to be on time. Every night, take the following steps so you have less to do the next day.
Prepare the clothes you are going to wear.
Finish any task that you tend to put off until the next morning, like writing emails or printing documents.
Pack your bag or briefcase with everything you'll need the next day.
Have everything you need to prepare a quick breakfast.
2
Place your things near the door. A large proportion of repeat stragglers waste a lot of time looking for their keys, phones, chargers or wallets. By keeping all of these essentials in one drawer or on a tray by the door, they'll be there waiting for you when you're ready to leave. [1]
If you tend to walk in the door only to find that you've left your keys on the table, your wallet in your bedroom, and your phone on the couch, you'll be wasting valuable time looking for all those things when you already could. be on the way. And once in a while, you probably leave an important item at home and have to come back for it, further aggravating your delay.
As soon as you get home, then empty your pockets of all these essentials and place them in the same place each time. If you keep them all in your purse, put it by the door, in the same place each time.
3
Set up a space near the door. When you go around your house to gather all the things you will need, group them near the front door (and therefore the exit door) so that you can grab them when you go out after showering and having had your breakfast (or maybe dinner). This will save you wasting time.
If you have a car, put things in it directly.
4
Anticipate delays. Are you a fan of supposedly legitimate excuses? There were traffic jams , or The train was late . Or even worse: I had to pull over and refuel . If you had anticipated these mundane circumstances, they would not have put you behind.
Realize that these circumstances are quite common. Being stuck in a stationary subway is not an out of the ordinary experience. Leave early enough to be able to face these kinds of obstacles and still arrive on time.
Avoid absolutely foreseeable circumstances, such as having to stop for gas. Fill up the day before. Make sure you have metro tickets and eat at home instead of stopping for breakfast at the bakery and wasting your time waiting in line.
Check the weather and traffic, to see if these parameters could cause you to be late, and leave early enough to accommodate the circumstances.
During the winter months, allow at least 10 extra minutes to defrost the windshield and cross the snow-covered garden. Remember that with snow, traffic will be a little slower than usual.
If you are taking the bus, prepare the route, prepare your ticket and prepare money for a taxi in case of emergency.
If you depend on another person to get to your destination, have a backup plan!
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5
Commit to being 15 minutes early whenever you need to be somewhere. If you start work at 8 a.m., don't tell yourself that you can leave at the last moment. Instead, tell yourself, “ I have to be at work at 7:45 a.m.. ” You will be on time even in case of unforeseen events. You will be on time even in traffic jams. And on the rare days when you actually arrive 15 minutes early, you'll be seen as an enthusiastic employee.
If you can't stand the wait, pack a book to read whenever you're early. This will make it easier for you to be early, since during the 10 to 15 minutes preceding your appointment/event, you will be able to read a few pages of your book. You'll feel like you're productive (and you will be!) while you wait.
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Overestimate the time it will take to get to your destination. If you already prepare everything the day before and leave early in the morning and yet are constantly late even when you do not encounter special circumstances, you are probably underestimating the time it takes to get to your destination. Optimists tend to subtract a few minutes from the estimated time, hoping to get there quickly. Unfortunately, that's why you're late. Be realistic when planning your trips and punctuality will come by itself.
It is sometimes difficult to know exactly how long it will take to get somewhere. If you are preparing for an important appointment, such as a job interview, travel before the crucial day. Time your trip so you know what time to leave home.
Don't forget to add 15 minutes to the total journey for possible incidents. If you calculate that it will take you 40 minutes to get to your meeting place, leave 55 minutes early to be sure of being punctual.
Method
2
Develop better habits
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1
Get up as soon as your alarm goes off. Don't hit the snooze button, lay around in bed, or watch TV early in your day. You probably didn't plan 10-15 minutes in bed when you figured out what time you needed to get up to be on time for your appointment. By getting up late, you cause a series of delays throughout your day. Those few extra minutes in bed will shift all your tasks for the day. To do this, get up as quickly as possible.
Stretch, splash your face with cool water, and brush your teeth right away to wake up your body.
If you can't get up on time, you may be going to bed too late. Go to bed earlier than usual and see if things get better. Going to bed early is often enough to get up easily in the morning and be productive during the day. Unless you're sure otherwise, assume you need 8 hours of sleep a day.
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2
Reassess the time your daily tasks take. For example, you may think it takes 15 minutes to shower and then think that by starting at 6:30 a.m. you get out at 6:45 a.m. But what about the time before and after showering? It's quite possible that you actually spend 20 or even 30 minutes in the bathroom and that's why you never leave on time. Then think about the things you do every day and try to estimate the time they take you as accurately as possible.
Track the time you take to complete certain tasks over several days in a row. Use a stopwatch and record your times throughout the week. Then take an average so you know how much time you will need to get ready in the morning.
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3
Determine what are the major sources of time wasters for you. What activities keep you from getting out of your house on time? You might not even notice how much time you're wasting checking your email, spending too much time curling your hair, or stopping for coffee on the way to work.
Once you have determined which activities are wasting your time, try to change your habits. For example, by standing up when you open your mailbox, you will avoid surfing the Internet for an hour.
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4
Advance your watch. If it's 8 p.m., set your watch to 8:5 p.m. or 8:10 p.m., so you'll always have a little leeway. Forget that detail, because if you think about it, you'll think I can wait 5 more minutes...
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5
Divide your time into several steps. For example, if you have to leave home at 8 a.m., say to yourself, “ At 7:20 a.m., I start taking my shower . ” " It's 7:35 a.m., I have to brush my teeth . " This will help you stick to the allotted time. Establish a specific schedule to develop these good habits.
Consider printing out this schedule, so you can check it out in the morning. Display it in your bedroom, office, kitchen and other places where you can see it easily.
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Don't make too many commitments. You may often be late because you plan to go back to meetings without leaving time to go from one place to another. Look at your schedule and make sure activities are separated by several minutes, so you have time to rest, eat, move around, and do whatever else you need to do between appointments. [2]
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Surround yourself with clocks. If you tend to be cloudy and forget what time it is, you probably need more clocks in your life. If you don't like to wear a watch, always have your phone handy. Wall clocks easily grab attention and keep the beat going. Make sure all your clocks and watches are set to the same time, so you don't get confused.
Use stopwatches, alarms and reminders throughout the day. For example, you could set your phone to vibrate or ring 10 minutes before you need to leave for your next class or meeting.
Some people intentionally set their watch several minutes in advance in order to always be on time. You could try this technique and see if it works for you. However, many of these people eventually realize that, knowing their watch ahead of time, they give themselves extra time and still end up late. Knowing what time it really is will help you stay grounded and on time.
Method
3
Change your attitude towards being late
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1
Recognize that you struggle to be punctual. If you have a chronic problem with punctuality, you may have a tendency to make excuses for yourself. Some may be valid, for example if you are late for a meeting because you had a flat tire on the way or a snowstorm blocked traffic for an hour. But if you notice that you're constantly trying to explain your delays, you're probably at the heart of the problem. And like any problem, you can't fix it if you don't first recognize that something is wrong.
If you're not sure if this is a recurring problem, ask your friends and family to tell you honestly if they consider you a punctual person. If you are constantly late, these people must have noticed it.
Don't be too hard on yourself though. Know that a large part of the population of Western countries suffers from the same problem. [3]
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2
Recognize that your delays affect others. You probably want to be punctual, and when you're late, you feel genuinely sorry for keeping others waiting. But if you're late again and again, people will think you don't care. Being late makes people wait for you and sends the message that you value your time more than anyone else's, even if you don't feel that way. [4]
Consider how you feel when the person you are meeting with is late. Do you like to sit alone in the restaurant while you wait for your friend to arrive half an hour late?
Finally, being consistently late will undermine people's trust in you. You will make a bad impression on them, well beyond the realm of punctuality alone.
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3
Find other sources of adrenaline. Do you feel intoxicated when you race against the clock? Maybe it's a kind of game for you: if you get to your destination before the time is up, you win. However, this exhilarating habit can have bad consequences when you lose too often at gambling. orienteering or, if you really like adrenaline, parachute jumping.
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4
Make punctuality one of your core values. Punctuality may not seem as essential to you as integrity or honesty, but these values are nevertheless intimately linked. When you say you're going to be there at a certain time and you don't, what does that say about you? When you are late again and again, could this behavior affect others' idea of your integrity or cause them to question what you say? Try to give as much importance to punctuality as to the values that are most important to you. If being punctual is important to you, you will soon start to be.
Determine the contexts in which you are most often late. If you're late for certain people or if there's a class you're always 15 minutes late to, it's possible that those people or that class just aren't that important to you.
Try to get involved in projects that matter to you. Be on time and put your heart into the work. By caring about what you do and living with integrity, punctuality will come naturally to you.
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Enjoy the benefits of punctuality. After you've worked for a few weeks on forming new habits and figuring out how to be on time, all of this won't be as difficult for you. You will then begin to be able to enjoy the privileges of people who are never late. Here are some examples of the benefits you will enjoy:
You will be much less stressed on a daily basis and you will not have to find excuses and apologize all the time.
By being on time at work, you will gain in professionalism.
Your privacy will also benefit as people begin to see you as someone they can rely on and trust you more.
By making a habit of being on time, you will have the privilege of being late from time to time, because then people will give you the benefit of the doubt.
Advice
Here's an old military adage: if you're not 5 minutes early, you're 10 minutes late!
Children are a major source of delay for their parents. Follow all the tips above, not only for yourself, but also for your children. Prepare their clothes the night before (including coats and gloves), make sure they bathe before bed, etc. Take a few minutes before bed to make sure their homework and books are in their binders, which you will then place by the door. Check the releases you might need to sign them. If you have a baby, be sure to fill your diaper bag. If you're lucky enough to have an older, well-organized child, they can lend a hand!
Keep in mind that: “ if you are 5 minutes early, you are on time. If you're on time, you're late. If you're late, you'll have to explain yourself. »
If you take your lunch to work, prepare it the night before.
Warnings
Constant delays damage good relationships with friends, colleagues and superiors. And even if you have a strong personality and are able to make up for it, people will start resenting you. By taking hostage the people who prepared the meeting, the trip, the meal, the evening, etc., you will generate a certain irritation and your personality will be devalued.
Don't think that no one notices your lateness. If you know that you are more than occasionally late for work, school, church, appointments, etc., you can be sure that others have noticed it too.
Know that your reputation is at stake. The benefits of punctuality are endless
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