Tips For People Who Are Always Late: 6 Ways To Stop Tardiness

Tardiness is viewed negatively in schools, workplaces and even within social environments. Being late can mean missing out on the fun but it can also be downright rude. Occasionally things come up; traffic might be bad, life doesn’t go as expected, etc. If those situations come up once in a while you have a good excuse.

However, repeatedly being places at times long after you should’ve been there is a problem. This is when you ought to be looking into what’s causing you to be late and resolve it.

What to do if you’re always late

Here are some things to do if you’re constantly late.

1. Analyze why you’re late

A larger underlying issue can cause constant instances of lateness. Of course here we’ll discuss some of the major reasons like accounting for time and alerting yourself when necessary, but it is also important to understand if there is any unique cause to you.

For example, ADHD can cause you to be late frequently because it can make time management and keeping up with responsibilities more difficult. Depression can also cause tardiness because of a lack of motivation and decreased mental energy. Remember that you might have a reason specific to you that you ought to address. Try to pinpoint what comes before a late arrival and resolve it or seek help if you need to.

2. Always give yourself way more time than you need

One of the most common reasons for being late is underestimating the amount of time needed to get somewhere or do something. Give yourself more time than you need! Even if underestimation isn’t your problem you can benefit from this. Ultimately being late occurs because you didn’t have enough time; even if something comes up this still holds true.

Are you usually late by 5 minutes? 10 minutes? 15 minutes? Give yourself twice that time extra to prepare. Get up earlier to get ready. Leave the house that much sooner.

3. Don’t procrastinate

Procrastinating tasks you should’ve done can also contribute to making you late. For example, maybe you left your laundry to the last minute and you got stuck waiting for it to dry. Maybe you had to buy a present for someone and you decided to do it on your way to the get-together. If you know you need to do something now don’t allow yourself to leave it for later. This way the risk of it holding you up decreases.

4. Set alarms

Time management is a big part of arriving on time. You should try to make yourself aware of the time and set limits for when something should be done by. One of the best ways to do this is to set many alarms on your phone. Set an alarm for the time you feel you should be getting ready. Set an alarm to get yourself out of the house at a respectable hour. Make use of alarms to help you steer your time responsibly.

5. Remind yourself how nice it is to be early

Being early is an accomplishment and a cause for rewarding yourself. There’s just something that feels good about walking into a place on time or even early rather than late. Try envisioning how you’d feel if you were early and make being punctual a reason to feel proud of yourself. Then get to work on making it a reality.

6. Don’t be too hard on yourself

This tip is important to take with a grain of salt. Yes, you should not be too hard on yourself when you’re late. However, this is no excuse to constantly be delayed. Don’t be hard on yourself if you’ve been late in the past. Realize it’s okay to be late once in a while. Sleeping in, experiencing traffic or downright getting lazy is okay sometimes but this is not a free pass to be late all the time.

It’s just for the best not to stress yourself out about being tardy. Rushing in traffic, leaving the house without checking to make sure everything is in order, making mistakes – all of these can result from rushing and be dangerous. If you are too hard on yourself for your punctuality you could end up doing the wrong thing. The goal is learning to be early by managing time and being aware of it, not by rushing.