Archive for the ‘Time Denial’ tag
Always Late? Stop Living in Time Denial
The predominant cause of chronic lateness is a basic inability to determine – or admit – how long something takes to complete. Of course this probably isn’t a scientific fact (yet). So for now, just take my word for it.
Similar to how some people can’t navigate their way out of their own driveway (myself included), some of us just weren’t born with an ability to gauge elapsed or remaining time. We consistently think we have more time than we actually do, downplaying the reality of the situation: that whatever time we have remaining, even though we think it’s enough, isn’t even close.
We forget about the little things, we assume the best of every situation, and we get caught up in a "right here, right now" mentality instead of making a clean break from the present and moving onto what’s next.
It’s called time denial. And you’re living in it.
Time denial isn’t just specific to chronic latecomers, most everyone falls prey to this mentality at one point or another. Yup, even you my friend. So stop judging the dude in the next cubicle.
You know the drill… You’re right in the middle of something that has your complete attention, all the while your next commitment is creeping up on you. You glance at the clock, trying to squeeze in another few minutes to finish that email – or frag that alien with your rocket launcher – thinking that no matter what, you have time because it "only takes" 15 minutes to get to the office.
By the time you pull away from your current activity, grab your coat, and run to your car, you’re already down to 14 minutes… and you need to get gas. And of course, traffic has started building up. Before you know it, you’re not 5 minutes late, you’re 25 minutes late!
Avoidable? Certainly. Acceptable? Most certainly not. Maybe you can get away with it the first time… if you’re a nice person. But great things weren’t achieved showing up 25 minutes late. Trust isn’t built by letting people down, making them wait for you and your bad habits. Real artists of life don’t show up late all the time.
Real artists of life have integrity.
Look, time management is only as good as your relationships. If you’re a master at managing your task list but people don’t want to work with you, or don’t trust you to show up when they expect you to, it doesn’t matter how many to-dos you’re checking off each day. Commitments are the most important thing in business, and are pretty high on the list of "personal life" as well.
If you find yourself showing up late all the time, you simply need to get a fix on it.
