5 Reasons You Are Always Late (and How to Solve Them)

“This is the fourth time in a row when you have been late.”

My employee was too embarrassed to even look up to me to give up a silly excuse. He, too, was bothered by his chronic lateness.  So, we made a list of possible reasons and sat down to identify the real one.

Realizing the cause helped him break his pattern and head towards a positive change.

Why Are You Always Late?

Here are some common reasons you are chronically late, and the tips to combat them:

1. You stay up late. Most people find it tough to follow an early morning ritual because they are up late at night. As a result, they sleep until the last possible moment in the morning.  Tip: If you are sleep deprived,you are likely to feel tired throughout the day. Try getting to bed earlier, turn off all distractions, including your smartphone.

2. You always want to do one more thing. Many people with a tendency to show up late often get stuck checking off one more task. They stretch their time to an extent that they are late to their destination.  Tip: A good way to overcome this habit is to convince yourself that those minutes are for planning your day and be ready for a smooth beginning of the day.

3. You are bad at estimating the commute time. Underestimating your commute time, coupled with doing one more thing (See #2 above), is a recipe for failure in arriving to your office on time. Most people fool themselves by thinking that it will take fifteen minutes to get to office whereas it takes 30 minutes to get there, which makes them chronically late. Tip: First identify the exact time that you would need to reach office. Second, find out by what time you should leave to cover the distance. This will bring out clarity and you will always know by how much time you are running late.

4. You are often stuck in meetings. It happens with most of us. We have to leave, but we are trapped in a meeting that goes on for long. Occasionally, this isn’t bad but if this is a fixed pattern then you definitely need to break it. Tip: Identify if the time allotted for a meeting is adequate for the topics to be covered.

5. You can never find your stuff. Most people run late in the morning because they are busy searching for lost keys, phone, wallet etc., at the last moment. Tip: Fix a place in your house for all such stuff and make sure you keep them there when you get back home every day. If you have trouble dedicating a place, use a backpack and dump all your important things there.

Be On Time

Implementing change is about self-introspection and awareness.

Once you realize the reasons you are usually late, you can implement the tips to make the difference.

Being on time is a decision that you can make.