Do you have struggles with being early to an appointment or work? No matter how hard you try, you are always late. Your friends and co-workers identify you as that person who cannot be trusted to be on time. This can be embarrassing and make you feel bad and worthless, but that ends now. You have the power to avoid lateness and take control of your time.

If you put your mind to it, these 7 practical guides will move you from always being late, to always being the first person to arrive.

 

1.  Identify Your Time Wasters

The key principle to fighting lateness is first, knowing your time wasters.

When you identify the habits, routines and practices that always make you late, you can work to prevent lateness to a large extent.

Take moment and ask yourself the following question: Why am I always late?

Assess the factors which always keep you running late, because that will help you understand the measures to implement better.

You need to know your time wasters and eliminate them fast.

For instance, one of my biggest time wasters is always thinking there is more time to perform a task. So, to eliminate this time waster, I must consciously remind myself always that there isn’t enough time, and keep my eyes on the clock.

Your time waster may be social media. You spend thirty minutes in bed checking social media first thing in the morning. If this is your problem, you must know and admit it first to be able to fight it either by keeping your phone away from your bedroom or turning off your data, if that works for you. Do some self-examination an you will realize what your time wasters are. You can write them down to keep you on track.

 

2.  Plan and Organize

This is the number one tip for not being late. Organizing may sound like a huge word, but in this context, it is easy.

This simply means preparing for your day the night before.

I have made an important observation based on days I consciously prepare for work the night before and the days I do not. On days I pick and prepare my outfit, pack my bags and prepare my lunch for the next day, I am able to make it early to the office (it feels so good). Imagine spending thirty minutes or an hour preparing in the morning when you could have been thirty minutes or an hour early.

Pick your outfit, pack your bags, prepare your documents and be about 80 percent prepared the night before. Your responsibilities and the nature of your appointment will determine how you organize and what you need to put in place.

3.  Avoid The Snooze Button

Waking up early is a good way to help you start your day early and avoid lateness. Set an alarm if you cannot wake without one or ask someone who is always early to wake you up when they do.

More importantly, avoiding the temptation to hit the snooze button is your first win for the day.

This can leave you feeling like a superwoman and give you a sense of fulfillment before your day even begins.

The snooze button was made primarily for a reason; to wake you up if you missed the alarm on the first ring. However, the snooze button can be one of the biggest enemies of being early and productive. If you fall for its temptation and keep hitting the snooze button, you are essentially procrastinating and will eventually be late.

If your phone or alarm clock is right next to you, it is very easy to hit the snooze button. Keep your phone or alarm clock distant from you and loud enough to stop you from continuing your sleep but not loud enough to disturb the person next door. You may want to check out this recommended alarm clock for heavy sleepers.

4.  Set Your Clock Ahead

Set the time on your clock ahead of the world. An example is to set your time to 4.18am if the time is actually 4.00am. The additional number of minutes you add to the time on your clock, wrist watch or phone should depend on the pace at which you work or prepare for work.

Be careful not to make the difference too huge because you could get confused with the movement of time.

A hack to make this effective is to give your watch to someone else to set the ‘new time’ on your behalf.

Because you do not know how many minutes you are ahead and do not want to miss the time target, you tend to work with the time you have. Make sure you work and move with the time on your watch. If you do this effectively, you will never be late.

To make this tip effective, work with your new time and pretend that is what the time is (the time difference isn’t huge anyway).

5.  Keep Your Phone Away at Bedtime and Early Morning

I bet you can relate to this. Our phones are our biggest distractors and we spend so much time on social media at bed time and even early in the morning. Due to the nature of social media, you begin with a single click and before you know it, you are about a hundred clicks away (and that could take 20-30 minutes of your precious time).

If you always have your phone at bedtime, you are likely to be online for a long time and fall asleep late. This can affect the time you wake up the next morning, and if you had far less sleep, it could affect your mood and productivity.

Similarly, you are tempted to check your messages and know what people are saying online, as soon as you wake up in the morning. This can take a looooot of time and you will most likely end up being late to work.

You can check your phone on your commute to work or after you arrive early to work. Do not spend your nights and early mornings surfing the internet (especially social media).

6.  Leave a Window for Unexpected Events

When planning your morning, consider time for unexpected events, such as unexpected traffic, vehicle breakdown, the bus arriving late or any unforeseen situation which could interfere with your efforts to arrive early.

Maybe the shoes you planned to wear had a tear you did not notice the night before, or there is a sudden change in time for your appointment which you did not anticipate. If you consider all these things, you allow yourself a window period to face any unpleasant surprises.

I sometimes find my heart pounding in the bus to work simply because I need to be at work very early and just when the bus moves for five minutes, it gets stuck in traffic. Had I thought of that earlier, I would have set-off earlier.

You do not need to be exhausted and worked out (like I was) before you get to work or arrive at an appointment, because it is mostly obvious when you are exhausted. This can affect your mood for the whole day.

7.  Plan to be 15 Minutes Early

The idea of being early does not necessarily mean you want to arrive immediately the meeting starts or just when it is about to start. To arrive, look and feel responsible and serious, you must arrive early and settle before the official appointment time.

Deciding to arrive 15 minutes early also gives you a window to arrive on time.

If I need to be at work by 9.00am, I decide to get to work at 8.45 every morning. When I get to work early, I settle at my desk, check a few emails, say hello to co-workers who have arrived and prepare myself for the day.

If it is an appointment or a social gathering, you can arrive 15 minutes early, familiarize with the place and make yourself comfortable before anything officially begins.

Way Forward

Getting to work or an appointment early is easy.

You need to decide that you want to be early and work towards being early, to be early.

First, identify your time wasters and work to prevent them from making you late, plan, avoid hitting the snooze button and set your clock ahead of the world. Keep your phone away at bedtime and early mornings as you get ready for work, allow a window period for unexpected events and plan to arrive 15 minutes early.

Any tips on avoiding lateness? I would love to hear from you.