On Time to Everything Challenge

[ejchase]

I am chronically late, so want to work on that here. In the past I did this as part of the organization thread, and it really helped.

I want to see how many days in a row I can be on time to everything. I'm a teacher, and I'm going to count being "on time" to a class as being five minutes early since it takes at least five minutes for me to set up. I just feel so much better when I start right on time.

I suspect it may take me a few days to get one whole day of being punctual under my belt, but we'll see ...

Anybody else want to join in?

[Stacy]

Gulp... I'll give it a shot. I've always had a problem with being on time, and I know it's annoyed people a lot in the past. I'm currently working at a job where they're pretty lenient about when you get to work, but I'm not doing myself any favors by taking advantage of that. At my other job, punctuality is very important, because I'm replacing another employee when I come in.

[Float On]

I'm of the camp that if I'm not 15 minutes early then I feel late. Always having to wait on DH to get out the door and he stresses me out when he only allows the exact time he thinks it'll take to get somewhere (and then traffic is slow so it's traffic's fault not his that he is late).
So I encourage you!!! Strive to be a little early!!!
Thank you!

[Jilly]

I am always early, too. I would much rather wait than be waited for.

[Tussiemussies]

I used to be late but not as much now, would like to join in. That is for whenever I do go out. :)

[Tradd]

I'm of the camp that if I'm not 15 minutes early then I feel late. Always having to wait on DH to get out the door and he stresses me out when he only allows the exact time he thinks it'll take to get somewhere (and then traffic is slow so it's traffic's fault not his that he is late).
So I encourage you!!! Strive to be a little early!!!
Thank you!

+1

[Rosemary]

I am always on time, too, but generally allow extra time as I would rather be early than late, and it is stressful to me to run into traffic or other delays when I am scheduled to be somewhere. So allowing extra time reduces my stress level.

[bunnys]

I think it's a nice idea--in principle.

But there is NO WAY I could ever get any better than I am now.

I am currently usually "on time." Not early, not late and managing that is VERY STRESSFUL.

Are you normally late? If not, why do you want to improve?

[goldensmom]

I’m with Float On, always early and if I am on time then I am late. Interestingly, my husband is always early for work but late for everything else which indicates to me what is important to him.

[ctg492]

Good luck.
I am always early for everything. I am not sure that is a good thing either.

[Jilly]

Good luck.
I am always early for everything. I am not sure that is a good thing either.

I sometimes wonder about that as well. Although I always take a book and some handwork, it does seem like time wasting once in a while. Nothing wrong with a little down time, I guess.

[treehugger]

As someone who is chronically on time/early I think challenging oneself to be on time is a worthy goal. The people in your life who regularly wait for you will appreciate it. My husband was raised to always be late by his dad, but DH has gotten so much better about this over the years (his dad, however, is still always late, sometimes by hours), and not by me nagging either. He just came to realize (from watch his dad and people's reactions to his dad) that it's really frustrating for others.

That said, as someone who being on time comes naturally to, I can recognize that it can be very difficult for some people. Sure, it can feel disrespectful to always be kept waiting, but in the vast majority of case, the disrespect is not intentional. What I have noticed in many of those who are regularly late, is they they aren't good at estimating how long things take to do. So, they simply overcommit and overschedule and, by consequence, end up late to every appointment.

I have a dear, old friend who is a chronically late person. We all know it, mostly planned for it, and tease her about it. Well, she has started getting better and we noticed. She admitted to me that a very close friend sat her down and explained how her always being late made other people feel. This had simply never occurred to her, but once it was pointed out, she made huge efforts to change her ways. She's still kind of ADD and disorganized and still says yes to too many things in one day, but she has really improved her timing. So, communication among friends is a really good thing. Sure, feelings might get hurt (especially if it's a family member!), but it's worth a try, instead of the on time people just stewing about it for many years.

Good luck in your personal challenge!

Oh, and to goldensmom who said her husband is always on time for work but late to personal things, so she feels she knows that work is important to him but she is not. Maybe it's simply a case of repercussions for tardiness at work, whereas, there are none in his personal life. Not that he doesn't think she is important.

Kara

[Lainey]

I'm puzzled by this casual "I'm always late" attitude too. Because if they needed to catch a flight for a dream vacation they would be on time; if they needed to get to a dentist appt to help their toothache they would be sure to be on time, etc.; so, I tend to agree with others that the selective lateness means they will be somewhere on time if it matters to them.

And that's why I agree with the disrespect theory - my time is just as valuable as theirs, but they don't respect that.

[fidgiegirl]

Well, after a week of noticing my own behavior (since this thread was posted), and realizing that I was spending a lot of time in the car fretting over "why didn't I leave earlier?!" I begrudgingly agree that I need to join this challenge.

That said I hope that others will leave it to the people who have recognized they need to be in the challenge to work on it in their way. After reading some of the entries - all of which I agree with, BTW! - about disrespect, etc. I'm a bit nervous about baring my behaviors here as part of this thread.

It's interesting how no matter how far from work I'm traveling (I go to a lot of different sites), it always seems to require 20-30 min. Never 15, like I think. Certainly not 10! I tend to forget about the time it takes to put my coat on, shut down the computer, etc. and only think of drive time. I did make an effort to get to a morning meeting early and I felt much better all day compared to another day when I was so late I missed the whole thing! (Thank God teachers are forgiving and THANKFUL when they don't have to have most meetings :) )

Having my phone helps. I used to dread getting somewhere and not "having anything to do" for the time I was waiting. Now, even if I choose to just sit quietly and wait, it's not because I HAVE to just sit quietly and wait.

How is it going for the others?

[Stacy]

Wow, after a week of paying attention to my lack of punctuality, I realize that I'm worse than I thought! Out of five days of work, I was only on time for two! One day, I was running so late that I had to pull off the highway to call work to tell them I was going to be twenty minutes late.

I certainly don't act this way out of disrespect for others, even though others may perceive it that way. Like I said in my first post, I'm always on time for my part-time job in which I need to replace the person at the end of their shift. At my day job, I arrive and grab a bunch of paperwork and pretty much work on my own. Nobody is being inconvenienced by my tardiness. But I need to remember, this will affect me negatively in the long run because they do look at such things when doing performance reviews. I think that being on time means being more respectful of myself.

I'll consider this past week as a starting point and try to do better next week. Like fidgiegirl was saying, I don't think I add in all the time it takes to do all the tasks it takes to get out the door. Now that the cool weather is here, that will include the time it takes to scrape the frost off my car windows.

[fidgiegirl]

Now that the cool weather is here, that will include the time it takes to scrape the frost off my car windows.

Argh! Yes! The other day I was (surprise, surprise) running late in the morning and was surprised to see frost forming on my windshield! I used wiper fluid to take it off, but seriously . . . that is not safe.

I hear you on the "no one is being inconvenienced" part of the morning arrival. If I don't have a morning appointment, I'm kind of "flexible" on when I arrive - between 8:00 and 9:00 (sometimes if I have appointments they can be as early as 7:00). But I'm still earlier than most of my coworkers, and find that I have to pretty much wait until 10:00 for them to settle in if I have an in-person question for most of them. My boss is ok with that outwardly, but a friend (who works somewhere else) told me that his boss mentioned his "late" arrivals (even though he also has a "flexible" schedule) as something he should basically work on. And he didn't realize he was being watched, or that what he was doing wasn't ok in boss's eyes (he works a lot at home, etc. as does my department). So even though the boss/rules might SAY it's ok, the unwritten rule, at least at his work, is that you get there at a certain time. Damn those unwritten rules.

[Tradd]

Being on time for work is important. Even if you do have a flexible start time, if you're habitually late, it generally will be noticed. Something to consider is if you being late affects your coworkers. In some jobs, that's an important thing. If I'm late (which only happens about 2-3 times a year, generally when I'm caught in traffic by an accident that just happened), there are very good chances that a customer is going to need something, and a coworker will have to pick up the slack. Keep doing that and your coworkers aren't likely to put up with it.

General "you" - not anyone here.

[Lainey]

General "you" - not anyone here.

me too, regarding my post above. I certainly don't want to be down on anyone who is trying to break a bad habit!

[Stacy]

Not only was I on time today, I was an hour early! Yep, I forgot to set my clocks back. :|(

[Stacy]

Did this thread fizzle out? I just want to report that out of five days of work, I was only late on two days, and only by a minute or two. So that's an improvement. Still working on it.

[awakenedsoul]

I'm always a little early. It's a habit. I like not having to stress. My brother was late to my youngest brother's wedding and he missed the ceremony! As a teacher, I noticed that the same people were always early, the same people were always there right when you start, and the same people were always late. It often applies to finances, too. It's such a relief to me to be able to pay my bills in advance now. When I was in debt, I was always scrambling. I believe having debt affects time management, too. There's a feeling of not having enough time or money.

[fidgiegirl]

I made some improvements this week, but was still late for a few things. The times I was on time I was early, though - maybe too early. So need to work on balancing that out.