How to End Habitual Tardiness

Habitual tardiness can result in job loss and destroyed relationships.

Habitual tardiness can derail your relationships and make you miss out on opportunities to enhance your career. When you're consistently late, it sends a message to those waiting that you're disorganized, unprofessional and have no real concern for other people's time. Partnerships can quickly dissolve if one party cannot rely on the other to show up on time for appointments. Learning techniques to improve your punctuality can help reduce stress, increase productivity and rebuild a damaged reputation.

Instructions

1. Determine the underlying factors that contribute to your tardiness and create a plan to overcome those issues. Poor time-management skills, disorganization, lack of enthusiasm about appointments, poor concentration and laziness are common causes.

2. Give yourself an extra 15 minutes to arrive at appointments. This gives you a cushion in case you run into a traffic jam or get lost. Never assume that external conditions will work in your favor.

3. Create a daily schedule and stick to it. A schedule helps you mentally prepare to participate in activities. Use a calendar that you'll be able to view easily throughout the day.

4. View your appointment from the other person's perspective. Imagine how they feel having to wait for you because you are running late. If you're able to empathize with how your tardiness may affect the other party, you can use it as motivation to arrive promptly.

5. Use positive affirmations such as "I love arriving on time for my appointments," "being on time is important to me" or "I care enough about others to respect their time by showing up on time." Repeat these or similar phrases throughout the day. Imagine how good you'll feel arriving for appointments relaxed and on time -- and not stressed out because you were speeding down the road trying not to be late.

6. Set an alarm to notify you of pending appointments. You can use your alarm for any activities, not just waking up in the morning. For example, set an alarm five minutes before an important conference call.

References

• The nest.com: "How to Stop Being Chronically Late": by Hallie Goodman
• Psychotherapy Help: "Enter the Zone: The Time Bandits" by: Paul J. Hannig Ph.D. MFCC
• Practical Practitioner: "How to Stop Being Late" by Pamela Egan, FNP-C CDE