How to Stop Being Late Forever (advice for myself and other chronically late people)

For me, lateness is often a kind of weird procrastination. I decide to leave for a thing at the last possible moment, which is often significantly later than that. But punctuality is extremely valuable and valued in our society. There are huge benefits to being on time, everything from better relationships to higher income. It shows a capability for self control that some people have innately and others, frankly, have to hack their way toward.

I'm working on getting myself there, but don't forget to also forgive yourself when you slip up and show up a few minutes late in the same way you would forgive someone else.

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[Callmethespaceman]

A tip for my fellow late people, get ready as soon as you can rather than wait until you absolutely have to. Things always take longer than you expected.

[annaleeyikes]

Me: an episode of friends is 22 minutes.
Me: I have to leave in 10 minutes.
Me: I have time to watch this before I leave.
What? NO. NO YOU DON’T.

[Carina]

If I could teleport I’d still be late.

[sarahereach]

That moment you realize that you are late clocking into work because you are sitting in the car reading the comments on a video about how not to be late.

Oh My God It's Burning!

[kyliep.]

“My brain sees 11:49 and 11:50 as very different times.” I thought I was the only one! I think this way all the time and it has consequently gotten me very late to many things. Your advice to think about it as “11 minutes from now” instead will be very helpful. Thank you Hank!

[Razbeariez]

As a person who frequently finds myself waiting for others to show up- the texting that you're going to be late and by how much is VERY appreciated. Especially if you know in advance that something has come up, because if you're going to be 15 minutes late then I'll show up 15 minutes later too.

[kelpjelli]

This came in time, I just missed my school bus. Literally a couple minutes after it left this video appears. Great.

[jarvis]

i relate to this so much! making a reminder for when I need to leave (when a meeting requires transit) was a game changer for me

[MarkThePage]

My strategy: Have friends who know you well enough to lovingly lie and tell you events are happening 30 to 60 minutes before you actually have to be there. That way you can still be late, AND be on time!

[lngwstx]

Another tip for my fellow chronically late folks: time yourself doing stuff. Literally, showering, getting dressed, etc - time yourself. It probably takes longer than you think.

Another tip: Make a schedule. Write it down. Put in EVERYTHING - schedule your morning poop on there. It will really help you get a realistic idea of how long things take, and will help you practice nailing down a routine.

Another tip: add cushion time to things. Just a couple minutes on the front end and the back end, no more than five minutes. It will give you space to daydream and go pee and whatever else.

Another tip: do all the stuff first. Get your laptop and keys and everything ready, set it down next to you. And then when you’re ready early, set your alarm for the minute you have to leave, and grab your stuff and leave when it goes off. NO SNOOZE! (I’ve learned that snooze is my enemy; it gives me the illusion of extra time where none exists. Setting an alarm early and then snoozing muddies my image of what time it is.)

Another tip: Bring stuff to do if you don’t like being early because it wastes time. Bring your mail and read it, bring your checkbook and balance it, bring your homework and do a couple math problems - something to do during the early time so you get used to feeling like that time is productive.

These are the things I’ve learned to do so that I can be less late less often. I still do not experience time the way On Time people do and I never will, but it gets better if you work at it. In the meantime, being honest with people and apologizing and doing your best in you areas of strength will help you be forgiven when needed and be valuable to your colleagues in other ways.

[ProfessorPolitics]

Number 6 hit hard. I'm always sitting at my desk going "but if I spend just fiiiive more minutes, I might be able to crank out this model and get ahead for my next paper." Except it's always 5 minute plus 50 more and I wonder why I'm always behind on things. I'm going to try and keep that attitude of "there are other interesting things in the world away from my desk" in the future.

[SlugcatEmporium]

I struggle with lateness because of number six. I hate being early OR late; I want to be precisely on time. Being early and waiting around (waiting rooms, bus stops, restaurants) is extremely uncomfortable for me. Unfortunately, this often ends in tardiness, because any trivial delay will take me from "exactly on time" to "late!!". I guess I need to work on expanding my window of tolerance for idle time.

[SciencewithKatie]

I am a chronically late person too, John's video made me feel terrible about myself for it but this makes me feel a little better!

[thedavescloop]

I am more on time for this video than I am for almost anything else in life.
In addition to be a chronically late person I am also an extremely NOT MORNING person. I don't just mean that I am slow and foggy after I wake up, though that's certainly true. My brain seems to neither understand consequences nor perceive time well at all when sleepy. When very tired I can roll over, look at my clock and see 8:00 AM and not be able to COMPREHEND what time that is or figure out how soon I need to get up to be to work on time. In addition, when I am sleepy the most important thing on earth is going back to sleep. My brain and body when barely awake need so desperately to go back to sleep that nothing else in the moment seems as important. Getting to work on time doesn't matter at all. I have to wake my brain up quite significantly in order to have the cogent thought "oh shit, I need to get going." It's very hard to be on time to things early in the morning because of this.

[BanthaWorship]

When your 30 minute reminder alarm goes off, IF YOU ARE BUSY DO NOT TURN OFF THE ALARM! Hit snooze! This way it'll remind you *again* in 10 minutes to get ready for the thing. This has really, REALLY helped me be more punctual.

[WritingsOfQuill]

I’m also late often and these are very helpful tips! I didn’t diagnose myself though, I went to a psychologist and found out I have ADHD. So don’t be too down on yourself if you’re like this; it could be an actual disability you’re trying to overcome all on your own!

[MaggieNeedham]

As a chronically early person, I appreciate you trying to work on this and your tips to other late folk. There's nothing worse than sitting in a restaurant assuring the waiter that your friend is on the way.

[ncnz]

It's nice to know I am not the only one. I'm nearly 50 and have been running late for many many things since I was 5...
One would think 45 yrs is enough time to fix my problematic timing but it's actually got worse! It's almost unbearable for myself Most definitely it's not done out of disrespect. It just happens and it just happens. Is all I can say..

[the_mothmxn]

One thing that has helped with my lateness is to multiply the fastest I can get ready by 2 - 4 to get my REAL prep time. So, I *can* be ready for work in 30 minutes, so plan at least an hour to get ready. For driving, a good rule of thumb is half again the normal driving time to allow for traffic, parking, etc. If you hate being early, have a project you can take with you to work on should you arrive early (especially good for doctor's offices and other such appointments).

[sambeawesome]

My mom was sure to drill it into me when I was younger to be early for things. So instead of stressing about being late, I stress about being late for being early xD It worked though, haha.