Are you always rushing around and running a bit late for everything, from meetings and doctor’s appointments to school pickup? I cannot remember when I became Little Miss Late, but I reached a point I couldn’t take it anymore.
I told myself I didn’t want to be late, so I made some effort to leave or start a task on time…
As you can imagine, I didn’t succeed well.
One day, I walked to a building on campus for a meeting, and I realised the root cause of my lateness. I was 6 minutes early when I reached the main entrance of the building. Immediately, a thought passed in my mind: don’t be early.
Um? I realised the target in my subconscious mind is to be on time, not early or late. I don’t want to be late, but somehow, I see being early as wasting time. That’s why I was always doing something until the last minute when I had to go. The problem is I often need a bit of transitional time to get ready to go, even just 5 minutes, plus some unforeseen issues, so I am late again.
With this insight, I set up a 2-step process to get me early, and it worked. I started showing up to meetings as the first person rather than joining a meeting when everyone else has been in the physical or virtual rooms. Well, most of the time. But I feel much calmer and more ready.
Step 1: To not be LATE, refocus the energy on being EARLY. Set the goal to be 5-minute early. If we’re just hanging around ‘not being late, we’re never able to be away from being late. And moving away from the pain/ frustration of being late is much less rewarding than achieving being early. So, focus on the joy.
Step 2: Take the transitional time into account when planning the day. I know this can be perceived as common sense, but it’s not common practice, especially when we get caught in the false belief that the longer we work, the more productive we become. Since most of us can only concentrate for up to 4 hours, allowing ourselves some breathing time in between tasks/ activities can help improve productivity and the sense of well-being.