How to be more punctual?

Question

I am probably the least punctual person in the world.

I am almost always late, thankfully I do my job so well, nobody complains about me being late.

But I find it weird, like today I woke up late cause my alarm didn’t ring, I went to take a shower, didn’t hurry and enjoyed it at the fullest, then did my make up, then sang some songs in front of mirror while choosing clothes, of course I was late, I really hoped I wouldn’t be but yeah, I was late again.

I wonder why don’t I care at all?

zeitgeist057 · Accepted Answer

First off, I would definitely advise that you wear your options here. Would you like to be punctual, even if it means you’re going to be more anxious and stressed out? Sounds like you had a very nice morning, which would have been much different emotionally for you if you were frantically rushing about stressed about the time.

If you thought about that and after consideration you still want to be punctual, I would advise that you simply move your whole schedule back by a period of time that covers how late you typically are. By that, I mean if you’re typically 15 minutes late, then move your whole schedule back 15 minutes. If you’re typically a half an hour late, move the schedule back a half an hour. I am almost always early, sometimes merely on time, and extremely rarely am I ever late. I typically schedule things to try to arrive 15 minutes early. I dealt with a mother who is always late, and what I started to do was tell her that I needed her to meet me or pick me up or whatever 30 minutes to an hour earlier than I actually needed her to arrive. She would then arrive on time (or close), breathless and panicking and a full of apologies on why she was late. I would simply chuckle to myself and say, “that’s OK mom, I love you.”

I am almost always early, sometimes merely on time, and extremely rarely am I ever late. I typically schedule things to try to arrive 15 minutes early.

One of the things you will deal with if you are always early, is that you will need to wait for others who are either on time or late. I mitigate this by having productive things to do, one of my favorite things to do is read my Kindle. When I’m sitting in the doctors office or hanging out waiting for others to show up, it’s a nice time for me to sit and catch up on my reading. I really enjoy being early because I’m not stressed out, when I’m running behind I realize that I’m going to be on time.

ProbablyClueless · Accepted Answer

I would recommend changing your focus to understand that your lateness is preventing anyone from wanting to give you promotions or other opportunities in life because they feel like you are too immature to take seriously. It's a statement about who you are as a person.

You don't care because no one is holding you accountable; there are no real consequences to being late for you. If you found out that you were about to be fired if you showed up late again, I bet you'd show up on time.

The fact you do the minimum requirement of your job is your saving grace. No one cares if you show up late, because no one trusts you with anything important enough for that to matter. I'm not trying to be a dick about that; I'm just being real with you.

If I needed you somewhere at a particular time and you showed up late, you'd better have your act on point when you show up. I would want to see everything ready to go, the results had better be impeccable, and you'd better have a fantastic explanation for why you made me look bad in front of my client.

If you showed up with anything less that, you would be breaking the trust I need to have in you as my employee. If it happened more than once, we would need to have a conversation about your future at the company.

Potteplante · Accepted Answer

How people don't give a fuck about other people's time - is beyond me. & That includes work.

- maybe going to bed on time, waking up in time & not waste your time singing while you look yourself in the mirror would help you not always being late and disrespectful of other people's time.

Sonorous · Answer

Wake up earlier & give yourself more relaxation & meditation time. Then when it's nearing when you have to leave, set alarms to go off in intervals so that the time never catches you off guard. Heck, even time your showers to know how long you've been in there.

BoopBoopBeep · Answer

I hate to be harsh, because you seem like a nice person, but... mature. You are going to be taken a lot more seriously when you respect other people's time, which currently you do not. I have a five minute rule. If you're later than that and I haven't received a call we're done. I've walked away from business deals as well as dates for that. If you were t-boned on the highway we'll revisit, but absent that, whoever it is has a cell phone and can call me. If you're just... not giving a shite... then we can't work together, professionally or personally. Most of the people I know, men and women, have a variation of that. May be ten minutes, may be 15 (rarely), but everybody has something else they have to get to and when you can't even care about my time there, I don't expect you'll care about the rest of the deal.

Friendlybro79 · Answer

You might not care at all because you have faced no consequences for your lateness. I had the same rule for everyone that worked for me. Everyone is under the same rules including me. If your late 3 times ( more than 5 min) you're gone. I'll fire myself if I'm late 3 times lol.

I also have a pet peeve with lateness. I only give the 5 min to not be a monster. You just said you don't care about being on time. It kind of means you don't care about playing by the same rules your colleagues. It also means you agree that because you're thought as being really good at your job that somehow you're entitled to be late.

Notoriously late people typically (can't say always) don't give a shit about other people's time.

To be fair I don't think this is always a conscious thing people think but, this is just my opinion of course, I think you should make a better effort to be on time at work even though I don't think you're asking me my opinion on that lol.

SnowedIn · Answer

Being late is almost always a choice. Very rarely something like traffic gets in the way but even in those cases it's still a choice because the person chooses not to give themselves some buffer time.

So, how to be more punctual?

Leave earlier
Start whatever preps you need earlier
If necessary, go to bed and wake up earlier.

Being late is a choice and it is easily fixed.

Fireguy17 · Answer

It is a control issue.
You like to make people wait for you.
That way you feel like they can't do anything without you.
Plus you like the attention that you get when you finally show up.
You can easily be on time but you chose not to be.
Late people are sending a signal to those that made an effort to be on time that says you aren't as important as I am.
Being late is not acceptable, but those that are chronically late think it is excusable.
At some point in time being late will bite you in the ass.
The world will simply not always wait for you and you will be left behind.
You are not as important as you think you are.
Things will go on just fine without you.
Others will figure that out and move on without you.
You can change if you want to, but you have to want to, and it sure doesn't seem like you want to change.

glennos89 · Answer

I totally understand your way of life because im also a person that is always late without giving a shit about it. But damn...

Im jealous of you having a life where its accepted being late because altough I always work my ass off... I keep being fired over and over again 😂😵

I feel that I'm trapped into a unnatural society in which people expect me to be on time while I'm not a person who wants to be living a scheduled lifestyle at all. I wanne live my life the way I like it and being scheduled isn't something I can live with. Im really struggling with this 😮‍💨

love_conquers_lust · Answer

I had this problem because I valued my sleep so much. Try to find something you look forward to at your job. Find a reason to be excited to go to work and you’ll find there aren’t enough hours in the day.

Qwertsy · Answer

Unfortunately, it sounds like there are no consequences for being late. Why care if it doesn’t matter anyways?

I’m sure you could make it to work in time. If there are no consequences at work for being late, maybe you could learn some self discipline.

ZXCwWRQWz · Answer

Care more about it. Even if you have a slave job at some fast food restaurant wearing some stupid hat dealing with stupid customers, this is your ladder to something better. People who stop climbing the ladder don't just stop progressing; they tend to lose all their progress. They fall back down to the bottom.

AviatorTom · Answer

There are a few things you can do to help you be more punctual:

1. Wear a watch and set the watch's time 10 minutes fast; for example, if it's 8:00, set it for 8:10. That way, even if you are 10 minutes late, you will be on-time.

2. Use your phone's calendar and set meetings/reminders for when you have to do something or be somewhere. Include an alarm to go off 30 minutes before that, set it longer before if it takes longer to get there.

Spade_01 · Answer

Be it anything you want to improve upon: being punctual, leaving a bad habit, quitting smoking, drinking or getting yourself up to work out etc.. take it to your ego that you want to improve upon it. Now, would you would be okay with shattering your own ego?

Andres77 · Answer

If you were worried about losing your job, I bet you’d never be late againZ

KrakenAttackin · Answer

@lafemmefatale_1 You are not punctual because no one holds you accountable. Not being punctual is a glaring tell of an "easy mode" life.

Try being an average man who can't get anywhere on time. People will set your ass straight right quick.

strateguy632 · Answer

when planning, count the minutes BACKWARDS from arrival , like do i know which room? need time, elevator? more time, know building? and long estimate for transportation , so hopefully you will be early and at least punctual.

abc3643 · Answer

Wavy is punctual...

spartan55 · Answer

Let me guess you are late for social obligations too.

Sharkstealth · Answer

I always wake before my alarm goes off and turn it off or forget and leave before it goes off. It's easy to be punctual you just have to want to be there.

justabuddy · Answer

You have to make it w priority. I do slot of prep work before hand. I'll look for reason why I'm late and make changes to help. Like having everything in a bag before I go to bed, that way all I have to do is grad the bag and go in the morning.

Sparkie460 · Answer

Move your clocks 15 minutes ahead

msc545 · Answer

There are realy never any consequences.

CubaPirate · Answer

Buy an electric shock watch

Alex8736 · Answer

Plan accordingly

How to be more punctual?

Most Helpful Opinions

What Girls & Guys Said

How to be more punctual?

Most Helpful Opinions

What Girls & Guys Said

We're glad to see you liked this post.