How to learn not to be late: the best tips. Prepare your clothes in advance
The modern world is filled with the routine and dullness of everyday work. Gradually, the colors of the surrounding world fade, life loses its taste. And so - the first delay, then another, and another - until the next employee’s tardiness overwhelms the boss’s patience.
At such moments, it is very important to stop in time, take in more air into your chest and exhale, regaining your ability to feel life. Today we offer you several ways to restore the taste of life, eliminate the main ones and make getting up early in the morning desirable.
1. Make your awakening unusual.
The main reasons for being late for work begin with being reluctant to get up. Start a new day with something unusual and memorable. The simplest thing you can do is change the alarm ringtone on your phone. Choose a pleasant, invigorating tune that you have not heard before - this will help you get ready for the exit from Groundhog Day.
The things and events we encounter in the morning fundamentally affect our mood throughout the day.
2. Prepare your clothes in advance.
How to stop being late for work? We've all heard about incredible people who prepare the clothes they're going to wear in the morning in the evening. But who actually does this in practice? At least for one day, become the same prudent person - prepare a set of clean clothes (this is important!), neatly folded on a chair. You'll immediately feel better when you realize how much time you saved searching for fresh socks or choosing the right skirt.
3. Go for a run.
Even if you already do it every day, a morning run is bound to lift your spirits. Again, you can change the route and change the music in the player, turning on something completely unusual (but still suitable for the running rhythm). Jogging will tone your muscles, give your brain a rest, invigorate you and mentally prepare you for the rigors of everyday life.
4. Change the usual things in the bathroom.
This morning you should have a completely new toothbrush waiting for you (perhaps even a children’s one - with Cheburashka ears) and toothpaste with a new, completely different taste. Swap your electric razor for a disposable one and vice versa. Use dental floss if you have never used it before. In general, do familiar things using unusual tools.
5. Prepare a dish the night before that you have never made before.
What's better than trying something new? It is not at all necessary to prepare something extraordinary from Moroccan cuisine - it could be a tea cocktail or ordinary porridge, the taste of which you remember from childhood. Culinary experiments (especially successful ones) will make your morning even more memorable and enjoyable. And the anticipation of a new taste (instead of the usual scrambled eggs) will give you a feeling of New Year's celebration when you wake up, and you will get out of bed much faster. And this will free up a lot of time for you.
You don’t have to go over in your head the reasons for being late or thoughts like “I’m late for work, what should I say?” or “Is it possible to be late for work if I’m not in the mood,” if the morning started on time and unusually.
6. Did you come to work on time? Reward yourself!
Is it possible to be late? Of course not! There is not a single reason for being late for work that would justify their regularity. In the fight against systematic delays, even barely demonstrated punctuality is already a small but noticeable victory over oneself. Feel free to reward your efforts by celebrating with an evening trip to a cafe with friends (without being late, of course) or just a piece of chocolate.
7. Allow time for contingencies.
Yes, that means you have to get up fifteen minutes earlier. Yes, this means that sleep is shortened by a full quarter of an hour. But this time can be spent on a new, unusual route or new activities in the morning - it will invigorate you and motivate you to work productively. In addition, if you find yourself suddenly locked in a broken down city bus or caught in a traffic jam, you will no longer panic and think “I’m late for work, what should I say?” – and thank yourself more than once for this little morning “sacrifice.”
8. Create a personal schedule.
There are many small and short-term tasks that in themselves take very little time, but in the aggregate they can delay the implementation of more important tasks for an indefinitely long period and therefore become the cause of regular delays.
Even if you only spend a minute of your time on such little things, take them into account in your life. Let the working day be scheduled down to the minute, and highlight the most important tasks in bold. By regularly checking this schedule, you will always know when and what needs to be sacrificed in order to show up in your work.
9. Take help from other people.
Don't have a personal executive secretary? No problem! Ask your friends, relatives and loved ones to wake you up with a phone call in the morning, send reminder text messages and periodically check in on your progress in combating the tendency to be late. Of course, only if these people are more punctual than you, and they themselves are not tormented by questions of how to stop being late for work or an important meeting.
10. Use electronic devices and gadgets.
Today we live in an age of amazing technologies that allow us to... small phone combine dozens or even hundreds of various functions. Take advantage of this by installing a convenient organizer for yourself - and update it regularly so you don’t forget anything. If a person can fail, then mobile phone It’s unlikely - only if you, due to the same absent-mindedness, lost it.
What's the result?
Using these tips, you can easily and pleasantly inspire yourself to arrive at work on time. Over time, you realize that you no longer ask yourself whether it’s okay to be late today - you will no longer want to run away from work, and an employee’s lateness will never make you angry again. You will like the result.
Unfortunately, in modern world no one is surprised by people's lack of punctuality. This has become the norm. But if you often find yourself thinking: “ I I'm always late “and you are concerned about the lack of punctuality: constant lateness to work, to meetings with friends and acquaintances, we can give a number of useful tips.
So, and always be on time?
Say no to haste!
The first thing a person who is constantly late needs to do is develop the habit of never rushing. Fussiness, the constant desire to do several things at once, leads to what has long been a saying: “If you rush, you’ll make people laugh.” It is the rush that can lead to a comical situation - showing up at work in slippers or with curlers in your hair. Remember Marshak's poem? After all, it was in a hurry that an absent-minded person put a frying pan on his head instead of a hat!
Bustling around a person who is always late, makes many unnecessary, unjustified actions, and the important and truly important things completely fly out of my head. Having forgotten something necessary, we waste time returning home to get keys, an umbrella or documents!
Getting ready for tomorrow in the evening!
Let's remember our childhood and, as it seemed then, annoying and unnecessary reminders from our parents: “Pack your briefcase in the evening!” Now we understand that the parents were absolutely right. Well, now, instead of a briefcase, put everything you need in your purse in advance, prepare your clothes, shine your shoes - in the morning you will save a lot of time! Having developed such a habit, you will not forget anything and will minimize the time you spend getting ready in the morning.
The sooner you go to bed, the sooner you get up!
The habit of always and everywhere being late is primarily associated with laziness. If you are one of those people who take a long time to get ready and cannot quickly “swing up” in the morning, there is only one way out - get up earlier. Well, if being late is due to lack of sleep, go to bed earlier.
Developing a “sense of time”
It is impossible to develop punctuality without developing a “sense of time.” Listen to some useful tips. If you wake up a few minutes before your alarm clock, don’t try to get enough sleep. Morning sleep is very tricky - you can fall asleep soundly and not hear the alarm ringing. The same thing will happen if you use the “moving the arrows a little forward” method. Subconsciously, you will remember that you have time left and try to use it to sleep.
Before learning how not to be late, it is worth conducting the following experiment: time, for example, 5 minutes and find out how correctly you can determine the time. After you think 5 minutes have passed, look at your watch. If it turns out that much more time has passed, then this is the reason for your delay. You just don’t “feel” time! This phrase will be the answer to your question: “Why am I always late and don’t have time everywhere?”
Counting how many minutes you spend on a particular action will help you develop this much-needed feeling: washing your face, brushing your teeth, getting ready in the morning, breakfast, etc. Determine how much time you need for your morning routine and set an alarm clock. As soon as the bell rang, the time for the procedure was up. Must move on to the next one. After some time, your “internal” clock will start working. You will devote only the necessary time to each morning procedure!
What will you have to give up?
Those who like to read a couple of pages over their morning coffee, check their email or browse the news on the Internet, or glance at or listen to information on TV with half an ear should give up this habit. It is these extraneous actions - main reason your lateness! Listen to our advice, change your habits, and you will see how your morning time is freed up, and how punctual and on time you begin to come to work!
There are few people who are tolerant of people who are late. We are annoyed by friends or colleagues who can never manage time correctly and show up on time for a meeting or work. Moreover, the sediment remains, even if you have to wait for just five minutes, and the employee’s tardiness does not in any way affect our personal workload.
The point, obviously, is that punctuality is not only a manifestation of discipline, composure, responsibility, but also respect for others. Consequently, unpunctuality is a sign of the exact opposite attitude.
One of my friends was constantly late. Sometimes it seemed to me that in this way she, perhaps subconsciously, was trying to attract attention to herself, to force people to think and talk about her, even in a negative aspect.
Imagine: several ladies are already sitting at a table in a cafe, looking impatiently at their watches, disapprovingly mentioning someone who is late, and then she flies in - excited, beaming - and all eyes are fixed on her, reproaches are forgotten - how can you be angry with a person who can smile so much! “Sit down, darling! How beautiful you look, how are you doing...” Talk only about her, all attention to her person...
But one day even her wonderful smile did not help. I felt so hurt by my friend’s latest lateness that I didn’t communicate with her for two months. Then, of course, she forgave me, and she, apparently, understood something, because since then she has not been late for a meeting with me. So, you can be punctual if you want?
However, psychologists are not so sure about this. They quite seriously believe that breaking the habit of being late is no easier than quitting smoking. And they even developed a whole program to get rid of this vice.
Find the reason
There may be several reasons for being late.
First
A person simply has no sense of time. I knew one lady who could arrange an appointment in, say, twenty minutes, and then go wash her hair. It is clear that the subsequent drying and styling of her hair lasted for a whole hour, and the person with whom she was supposed to meet was impatient, glancing at his watch.
Second
The desire to attract attention at any cost (as in the case of my friend).
Third
A person is late because he doesn’t like the work he is doing or the people around him, so he figures out how to stay late. Moreover, it turns out that he subconsciously strives to be fired!
Fourth
It is difficult for a person to wake up in the morning - either because of chronic lack of sleep, or because he is a “morning person” and goes to bed late. Therefore, getting up early in the morning is an unimaginably difficult task for him.
In this case, psychologists advise planning your morning minute by minute. For example, you must be at work at 9 o’clock. Light gymnastics and shower - 15 minutes, to get dressed and do makeup - the same amount. In order to make oatmeal, coffee and have breakfast in a relaxed atmosphere, and even leaf through an interesting magazine, it will take 20 minutes. And 40 minutes to get to work. In total, all preparations will take about an hour. So you should wake up at 7:20. And, aware of your inability to sense the passage of time, look at the dial more often when getting ready for work.
3. Prepare for the exit in advance
If you sit down to drink coffee in pajamas or a bathrobe (after a shower), and at the same time start checking email and answer emails, or delve into an interesting article, you may wake up five minutes before leaving. According to experts, before having breakfast, get dressed, do your makeup, and pack your bag. And if you get carried away with something while having breakfast, you will agree that it will take much less time to turn off the computer than to get ready.
3. Don't stay up late
You will stop being late if you get up on time. The inability to lift your head from the pillow in the morning is directly related to sitting in front of the TV or computer until midnight. To get enough sleep, you need to go to bed before 12. The advice is, of course, unoriginal, but proven. In addition, it is known that too strong emotions do not contribute to falling asleep quickly, and if you watched boxing or a horror movie at night, it is unlikely that you will be able to fall asleep without problems after that. It is best, of course, to read for half an hour - reading, as you know, puts you to sleep no worse than valerian tincture.
4. Two alarm clocks are better than one
Sometimes, having woken up from the alarm, we turn it off and immediately fall back to sleep. It’s good if the alarm clock has a snooze function, but if it doesn’t, you’ll oversleep and be late. So it’s better to set another alarm clock in the evening, but place it away from the bed. When it rings, you have to get up to turn it off.
5. Preparation in the evening
Remember, since childhood we were taught to pack our briefcase before going to bed. Not everyone benefits from science, but it is never too late to try to become an exemplary boy or girl. So, think about what you would like to wear in the morning, iron the chosen item, select accessories, wash and polish your shoes. Then pack your bag: check if your keys, documents, wallet, and cosmetic bag are there. After this, prepare the food that you will take to work: cut sandwiches, pour soup into a container and leave it in the refrigerator until the morning. Decide what you will have for breakfast, and if it’s oatmeal, then steam it now.
6. Don't do favors for people in your household.
If your husband suddenly finds his shirt wrinkled and asks you to iron it, gently but firmly refuse. It's high time you learned how to iron your own things! Let him start right now. In the meantime, you can calmly finish your business and leave the house on time.
7. Calculate travel time correctly
If you commute to work by car or public transport, then you usually think: I’m driving for about forty minutes, meaning pure driving. But let’s say you still need to get to the metro or parking lot, and this also takes time. If you don't take it into account, you won't invest in your forty minutes and will be late again.
8. Create entertainment
If you have a dentist appointment or a business meeting, it's hard to force yourself to show up half an hour early. What will I do, you think. Take an interesting magazine with you or sit in a nearby cafe. Or maybe in the area you need there is a beautiful park that you haven’t been to for a long time, or a bookstore, or something else interesting, where you can usefully spend time and not be late.
9. Ask your friends to be stricter
As my own experience, my friend was late for a meeting with me for years exactly until I was lenient about it. As soon as I sharply expressed my displeasure, and then did not communicate with her at all for some time, she immediately got rid of her vice.
So ask your friends to be stricter with you: not to wait for you for half an hour and not to accept your explanations.
10. Feel like a monster
Yes, it is unpleasant, but very sobering. Remember how many times you were late for a variety of meetings, from friendly to business, how many people you kept waiting. Yes, you behaved simply outrageous! And the more shame you experience, the better. This will help you heal.
11. The main thing is motivation
Understanding that constant lateness jeopardizes your career, steals lucrative contracts and clients from under your nose, prevents you from making money, and has a bad effect on relationships with friends - already gives you the strength and opportunity to overcome your shortcoming. A highly motivated person is capable of incredible efforts on himself. If he knows that it is simply dangerous to test the boss’s patience any longer, he will appear in the office first and submit reports before everyone else.
One type of motivation is reward. If you haven't been late once in a day or a week, treat yourself to something: a chocolate bar or a glass of excellent wine. And if, more than expected, you are late again, come up with a punishment. For example, unscheduled cleaning or cooking some complex dish.
Should I not know what being late is? It doesn’t matter what the situation is: meeting a friend, work, school or the bus. I am always late. Always. It's infuriating and annoying. It infuriates both me and those around me. It doesn't matter what time I wake up. Every time, by God, every time I promise myself not to do this again: to get up earlier, not to bring everything to the last minute, to prepare in advance. Reprimands at work, insults from friends and reproaches from loved ones only work at first. After some time, everything returns to normal again.
Punctual people are constantly trying to correct people like me - non-punctual australopithecus, who, in their opinion, have no idea what time is. They think we are always late because we are selfish and inattentive. In fact, being constantly late is much more complex problem than it seems at first glance.
It turns out that there is a clear pattern among chronic “late runners”:
- they are prone to procrastination,
- they have problems with self-control (they are more susceptible to: overeating, alcoholism, gambling addiction, shopaholism),
- they are constantly looking for thrills,
- They are characterized by: attention deficit disorder, anxiety, problems with focusing.
Comrades who are constantly late often struggle with feelings of anxiety, absent-mindedness, dual feelings and other internal psychological states.
A big role in this issue is played by deeply rooted personality traits, which make the habit of being late very difficult. However, it turns out that when the right approach a chronic late person may change his behavior.
What type of late person are you?
The first step to timeliness is self-awareness. Sit down and analyze your past and your character traits. Are you late always and everywhere or only at certain cases? How do you feel when you are late? What makes you late?
You're always late for certain time, or is it constantly changing? A fixed time of lateness indicates some kind of psychological obstacle. Perhaps you are afraid of downtime or want to fit as much into your day as possible. a large number of affairs (even if it is physically impossible). If you are late somewhere by 10 minutes or half an hour, the problem is mechanical. In this case, you need to work on your management skills (time management).
Conventionally, there are 7 types of late people. Most people fall into three main categories:
Deadliner I like the rush at the very last moment. He excels in urgent matters and optimizes in tense situations. It is sometimes difficult to motivate a deadliner to work if there is no real crisis. By jumping from one thing to another, the deadliner gets rid of boredom.
To the manufacturer you need to do as much as possible in as little time as possible. Such a subject feels great joy for himself, marking completed tasks on a huge list of tasks. Manufacturers, as a rule, engage in “magical thinking” - they greatly underestimate the amount of time they need to complete their tasks. They hate wasting time, so they make up detailed plan of the day so that every minute is scheduled.
Absent-minded Professor constantly distracted. Scientists suggest that distraction has a genetic basis and can range from full-blown attention deficit disorder to innocent quirks. An absent-minded professor often loses the passage of time, forgets his keys and meeting arrangements at home.
People usually exhibit signs of other types of latecomers. For example, Innovator never fully admits his guilt in being late (many of us are at least half rationalizers). Minion- someone who usually lacks self-control. Freeloader, - who justifies his anxiety and low self-esteem by being late. And finally Rebel b - is late because he wants to demonstrate his strength to everyone (Rebels are usually men).
What makes you late?
Take a close look at yourself and try to figure out what is really stopping you from being late. "Producers" often plan more tasks, tasks and meetings than they can do in a day (of course, unless they have a teleporter from " Star Wars"or time machine). They have the so-called hyperactivity syndrome, when they overestimate their own multitasking abilities. This happens automatically. It seems to you that you need to do everything before leaving the house, and then unexpectedly new things appear.
Many people simply feel reluctant to leave the house and suddenly feel like they need to straighten the blinds, check their email, mend their socks, pet the cat... When they should have been outside the door a long time ago.
You can combat this by developing this mantra: when you catch yourself doing something wrong, pinch yourself or clap your hands and say, “It can wait.” The excuse “Only five minutes!” does not relieve you of responsibility and does not provide you with an interest-free loan for a while. Stop. Throw the idea “now, I’ll just do this…” out of your head. And go where you were going.
How to overcome tardiness?
Transform yourself from a chronic late person to an ideal one punctual person- it's not just difficult, it's VERY difficult task. It is important that the deadlines are non-negotiable, something like a promise to yourself. Start with something easy to achieve, like: don't translate tomorrow morning later - not once (!) - and no “well, just 5 more minutes” in bed. If you are unable to complete even such a simple task, you are not ready to fight your illness of constant lateness. But before you jump off, do an experiment. Arrive somewhere on time. At least once. Just to understand how you feel about it. Remember how you feel. What do you feel: relief or anxiety? Pride or hellish boredom?
Step 1: Learn to re-calculate time
Every day for two weeks you must lead. First you compose detailed list tasks and estimate how much time you think it takes to implement each of them. For example, how much time does it take you to wash, get dressed, have breakfast, get to work, go to the store, wash the dishes. Then, when doing something on the list, you should note how much time you actually spent on it and indicate it next to your personal estimate.
Many people have some temporary stereotypes that are ingrained deep in the brain, but which are not realistic. If once, five years ago, you somehow miraculously managed to get to work in 15 minutes, this does not mean at all that it takes you 15 minutes to get to your workplace.
2nd step: Never plan to be minute to minute
Latecomers always strive to arrive at the place at the very last minute, without taking into account unforeseen circumstances. For example, you need to be at work by 9:00. You estimate that it will take you exactly 30 minutes, so you leave the house at 8:30. If, for example, you get stuck in a traffic jam or forget your umbrella at home, you will no longer be able to arrive at work on time. Don't take risks! Make it a habit to plan to be everywhere 15 minutes early.
Step 3: Accept the expectation
If the thought of arriving somewhere ahead of schedule scares you, consider what you can do in the meantime. Bring a magazine or e-reader with you, call an old friend you haven't talked to in a while, or make a list of plans for the next week. Think about what interesting and useful things you can do at this moment, and you will be motivated to arrive early and do it.
And finally, if you have a friend or family member who is constantly late, remember: taking this fortress by stealth will not work. For example, saying that you need to be there by 9:00, although in fact everything starts at 10:00. Eventually, the person who is late will figure you out. Scolding is also useless.
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I'm late everywhere and always. A few years ago it cost me a dream: the pretty German woman who was supposed to be conducting the interview said sternly: “You should have come 20 minutes ago. And now I don’t have time.” I was almost an hour late for the concert, where I was supposed to meet my future mother-in-law: behind my back, she couldn’t stand me a priori and only strengthened her attitude. I arrived on my first date with a wonderful guy in almost an hour and a half. And in response to my flirtatious: “Well, you’re a man, so you have to wait,” he sternly replied: “So, I’m not a man” (see). We, of course, never saw each other again. And all this is not counting the countless quarrels with friends and relatives who have become furious from constant waiting (see). In short, it's time to do something. Alas, standard advice“set the alarm earlier” (yup, and safely ignore it), “leave the house 15 minutes before” absolutely do not work. With the help of the best Westerners, I decided to start fighting with myself. Join us!
1 .Set an alarm for more than just waking up.“If you can't manage a large period of time, divide it into small periods,” advises Peter Bregman, author of the time management blog at Harvard Business Review. “Think about how much time you need to check email and set a timer for each segment.” Very helpful advice: for example, today I set an alarm to exactly leave the house and for the first time in for a long time I'm not late.
2. Don't lie to yourself when calculating your travel time.“This is one of the most common sins,” says Dana Rayburn, a famous New York coach. — You only factor in the trip by metro, or the pure travel time behind the wheel. In fact, a minimum of 10-15 minutes is always added to this.” Holy truth. If you live two from the metro (like me), do not forget to add these very steps to your schedule. Otherwise, you'll always be an annoying five minutes late.
3. Create your own entertainment.“It’s hard to just force yourself to get to a doctor’s appointment in half an hour,” explains Pamela Egan, columnist for The LifeStyle Magazine. — Take an interesting book with you, or plan to spend that extra half hour in a cafe. In short, come up with a nice reason that makes you really want to arrive early.” Very effective method. The easiest option is to find out in advance what interesting things there are in the area you want, a bookstore, a nice restaurant, a beautiful park. And, having arrived half an hour earlier, head to this exact place.
4. The first thing you need to do in the morning is to be fully prepared to go out.. Another great tip from Rayburn. And the most a big problem most people: we all like to surf the Internet in the morning in our pajamas with a cup and come to our senses five minutes before leaving (see). Do this: when you wake up, immediately go to the shower, do your makeup (for girls), get dressed, and pack your bag. And only then sit down to have breakfast, drink coffee and read the news. You can turn off your computer in one second, but you can’t clean yourself up.
5. Do the most in the evening.“When you were in school, your mom would pack your schoolbag and iron your uniform the day before,” says Rayburn. “Now you have to do it yourself.” I understand that I don’t want to fuss around in the evening, but this saves a lot of time. It is very important to think about what you will wear so that you don’t wear it in an open closet in the morning (it takes me about 15 minutes). And, by the way, you will always look good, and not jump into old jeans just before going out. I also made it a rule to cook in the evening, and it just saves time, money and my stomach.
6. Ask your friends to stop waiting for you.“It often happens that we are led astray by a single person who always tolerates delays patiently,” says Pamela Egan. Indeed, if you know that they will wait for you for at least an hour without reproaches, the temptation to be late increases. And once received the SMS “I couldn’t wait for you, I left on business” instantly tones up.
7. Feel like an idiot. Cruel, but true. At least once, sit down and think about how many times you have let people down, disrupted important meetings, ran as fast as you could across the ice, or sneaked to your seat in the cinema amid indignant hissing. There's nothing cute about it. This is simply disgusting and unworthy of an adult smart person, which you certainly are. Now turn off your computer and leave the house 15 minutes earlier than usual.