Are you perennially late? Diana
DeLonzor, author of Never Be Late Again: 7 Cures for the Punctually
Challenged (www.postmadison.com), is here to help you rethink your
arrival rituals.
Don’t aim for on time. Always plan to be 15
minutes early. People who are chronically late hate to wait, so
they try to time their arrival exactly on time, but rarely make it.
“This kind of split-second time management rarely works out,” notes
DeLonzor.
Avoid “magical” thinking. DeLonzor says late
people tend to underestimate how long everyday tasks, such as
driving to work, will take. Instead of relying on your best-case
scenario (“Once, the drive took me 11 minutes!”), keep track for
one week how much time these tasks actually take. Write up daily
schedules based on the new estimates.
“Just in time” never is. Do you think it
doesn’t make sense to do anything until it absolutely must be done?
Wrong. To change this pattern, every morning for a month write down
three things you’ll do early that day, such as turn in a report
before it’s due, and then try to meet those goals.