30 Hacks To Avoid Being Late

1. Adventures in the Art of Tardiness

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Are you chronically challenged?  Do you constantly find yourself apologizing constantly for your nonexistent punctuality? Perhaps it's affecting your life, your job and the other people around you, but despite being aware of the impacts, you just can't seem to show up on time!

2. The Exhaustion of Being Late

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It's absolutely exhausting this rut you find yourself in. Being late all of the time means that you're constantly rushing around, perhaps forgetting important appointments or belongings and it just always feels like you're chasing your tail with absolutely no way to break the cycle.

3. When You Finally Arrive, You're Met with...

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Hostility? The dreaded eye-roll? At least you're there, right? But you head into work, or your lunch date, or appointment feeling the constant shame of being so late. And that look of despair in their eyes is an obvious sign that you've let them down, wasting their time and yours.

4. So You've Gained Some Awareness

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So you've gained some awareness about the impact of your lateness and why punctuality needs to be a priority (that's why you're here)! Having this awareness is a great first step as you realize the importance of changing your habits. Make sure you stay aware of those costs of continuing to be late, reminding yourself of the negative impacts of your lateness now and then the benefits of being on time.

5. Flip that Bad Habit

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So instead of being late, have you ever tried to be early? Going from one extreme to another isn't always advised, but when it comes to tardiness, actually being early might just take a load off.  And think of all of the amazing things that you can do with all of that extra time!  There is one problem though, when you have a problem being late, where do you even start when it comes to flipping that bad habit?!

5. Treat Yourself, You Deserve it!

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Well, the very first thing that you probably need to do is treat yourself. And no, not to a pedicure!  Buy yourself a brand-spanking new alarm clock with or without all of the jazzy features. To be honest, it can be a simple and basic purchase but for this step to be effective, consider saving up for something that's all bells and whistles. You might be more likely to use it!

6. When One Alarm Doesn't Cut It

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So you've got your alarm clock, and you've set your alarm, but when it actually sounds first thing, you sleep through it. If you don't sleep through it, you snooze it, and if you don't snooze it, you bash it with your fist, completely destroying it!  Therefore, it's a good idea to set multiple alarms all over your house, putting some of them out of reach so you HAVE to actually get up to destroy it (ahem, we mean switch it off...)

7. Break it off with your snooze button

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Like most people, you've no doubt got a toxic relationship with your beloved snooze button.  You love it but you just know it's bad for you. So how do you break it off with it?  Well, one thing that you could do is use a habit tracker app to help you practice self-discipline.  Failing that, you could always tape over it to make it completely unusable.

8. Make Some Mods

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So there's something trending on TikTok at the moment that might just be the answer to dealing with your snooze button abuse.  Perhaps a little extreme but it's called the Snoozebot.  And basically, it's an alarm clock fitted with wheels that require you to actually chase it when it goes off!  That's one way to get you out of bed!

8. Time You Got A Watch!

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It's probably not advisable to take your alarm clock out and about with you, and you might not want to set alarms on your phone that'll startle people on your travels.  So it could be useful for you to buy yourself a watch to keep track of your timing.  Again, make it an event so you can mark this special moment of you turning your life around.

9. Live in the Past

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For your well-being, it's always a good idea to live in the now and be present in the moment.  But if you have a problem with lateness, this might not always be the best advice to live by when you're getting yourself ready for a specific time. It might just help you to set all of your clocks ahead of time so when you think you're late, you're actually not and just maybe there's a chance that you're going to be early for once!

10. Preplan...

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Planning really is key to making sure you're on or ahead of time for things.  If you know that you've got to be somewhere, like work, or an appointment, then it's a good idea to have a plan.  This might be laying out all of the clothes that you're planning on wearing or calculating your travel time.

11. ...Overplan...

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If preplanning alone doesn't cut it, then there's no harm in overplanning once in a while.  It's true, sometimes it can hinder your progress, and make you fail to start anything, but if you do it right and do it in advance, you might reap some benefits.  These might include planning moments for self-care in your routine, as well as feeling the control that comes with a plan.

12. ...And Plan Again

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It's important to be organized so you can have greater productivity and feel like you've actually achieved something within your routine, rather than just scrambling about, probably forgetting things, and being late anyway.  So that plan can help you to reduce stress, be on time, and even have a plan for when something goes wrong, like disruption to your travel.

13. How Do You Avoid Analysis Paralysis?

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It's true though that if you spend a huge amount of time planning and not actually doing, you're more likely to actually fail to start, perhaps meaning that you're late anyway.  This sense of analysis paralysis comes from overthinking and the inability to decide what path to take to improve your tardiness.

14. Shift That Mindset

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Maybe at first, your lateness was endearing and something that everyone joked about and threw harmless digs your way. But you've overdone it now and to be honest, it's no longer a charming part of your personality. In fact, it's downright annoying to others and you need to understand this. If you shift your thinking to "being punctual is respectful to others", then you're more likely to change how you are valued and how you value others.

15. Get in a Routine

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In order to tackle your persistent lateness, routines are so important.  But just like habits being incredibly difficult to break, routines are very hard to actually make. And actually sticking to them can feel nigh on impossible. Consistency is key, though, so make a plan and stick to it, you'll find that, eventually, it feels like an absolute walk in the park.

16. Race Against the Clock

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Like with anything, practice makes perfect.  So it might be useful for you to set yourself a task, like getting showered and dressed, and time yourself to see how long it takes you. Then the next day, do it again and see if you can beat your time. Make it fun and record your times and personal bests for a little while you are trying to improve your time management and tardiness.

17. Set Morning Rituals

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As part of creating a routine, set yourself some morning rituals that you stick to each day.  This could be sitting with your morning coffee and breakfast for twenty minutes, practicing meditation, or even heading out for a walk. It might seem impossible now, but scheduling this time in the morning will surprise you as to how much you can actually fit in. And your well-being will certainly thank you for it!

18. Hit the Pause Button

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When you're stuck in a vicious cycle of being late, writing meaningless to-do lists on the backs of receipts, and annihilating your alarm clocks on a morning, it can be difficult to get your thoughts in order and be more organized. So hit the pause button at least once a day so you can think clearly and strategize a way forward.

19. Be Ruthless with Your To-Do List

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We all write huge and unrealistic to-do lists with unachievable and endless tasks on them.  It makes us feel organized and productive, right? But with them being so unrealistic and daunting, it's likely that you're never going to achieve anything on them. So it's important to really think about overhauling the whole thing, assessing your time constraints and what's actually realistic. You'll find that you're ticking more and more off.

20. Strategize Your Priorities

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Now, the reason we make to-do lists is so we can get things done, and getting things done means we're organized. The knock-on effect of that is that you're going to be able to combat your lateness with this shift in habit. But it can't all be random, you've got to have a strategy that works for you.

21. One Thing at a Time

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But starting to strategize can be so overwhelming, even if you make that time for yourself to pause and think. Everything might feel so messy right now and when that's the case, it can be difficult to even make a start. But taking one day at a time, and one task at a time, whilst avoiding too much multitasking can really help you to improve your time-management.

22. Break Up Your Tasks

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And when the individual tasks themselves seem big, breaking them up into smaller, bitesize chunks can really have a positive impact on your mindset and might help you to actually make a start, rather than hiding behind an anxious veil of analysis paralysis.

23. Use Apps

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If paper isn't your thing and you'd prefer to use your tech, download some useful apps that will help you to build new good habits with the goal of improving your punctuality.  You could even use electronic planners and set reminders on your calendar apps too.  And remember to delete those apps that drain the life out of you, giving you those unhelpful impulses to scroll endlessly, diminishing your productivity and sleep quality.

24. Learn How to Say No

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Sometimes, our lateness, lack of time management, and organization skills can simply be put down to having just too much to do. If you've got too much on, and then someone asks you to do something else, you've for to learn how to say no. There's no benefit to completely filling your schedule and getting stressed, leaving no quality time for yourself.

25. Create a 'Late Kit'

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If all else fails, it's good to be organized with your essentials. So just like you'd lay out your clothes the night before or prepare your lunches in advance, you could also make sure you've packed what you'll be taking with you. Objects like your keys, phone, wallet, and more are likely to be the essentials that you lose and scramble around for in a rush first thing, so be sure to get these packed beforehand!

26. Sleep!

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Being mindful of your energy levels might help too. If you're struggling to get up in the morning, then consider whether it's because you went to bed too late, didn't sleep well, or have simply too much to do that's zapping your energy. You might be able to change elements of your lifestyle or seek out help to assist you in getting a decent night's sleep.

27. Practice Mindfulness

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Practicing mindfulness can also really help with your punctuality problems. You see when you're present, you can think clearly, and therefore, you can get your daily tasks in order, stay organized, remember times and dates, as well as taking care of your own well-being and sleep. Mindfulness helps you to develop and maintain good habits, which might be the answer to your issues.

28. Draft in Reinforcements

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Deciding to change up your routines so you can actually be on time is beneficial to everyone involved.  So be sure to tell everyone about your intentions to improve and draft in the support that you need to stay in your lane. These could be your coworkers, or even the people that you live with.  It's in everyone's interest to see you succeed, not just your own!

29. Tell People You're Running Late

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It is inevitable that sometimes, there will be situations when you're going to be unavoidably late.  In order to show that you do genuinely respect others, if you are going to be late, it's important that you actually tell whoever is expecting you at a certain time.  This way, they know that you've considered them.

30. Promise Yourself a Little Reward

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A little bit of positive reinforcement goes a long way, and making sure that you support yourself and pat yourself on the back once in a while can encourage you to carry on and be proud of how far you've come.  So a little treat once in a while might help you to maintain your new healthy habit and avoid that dance with tardiness once and for all.