Tips for Being a Late Bird

I’ve been late so many times that I have received awards for it. Once I realized that being tardy can make or break a reputation, I had to clean up my act.

If you’re anything like me, you might set five alarms before needing to wake up, or you might start getting ready two hours before and still manage to be 5 minutes late. Giving yourself extra time can be a blessing and a curse. Sometimes you think you are ahead of the game, but you actually slowed yourself down. This is called being a tidsoptimist: a person who is always late because they believe they have more time than they do. So, how do you know the perfect amount of time it takes to get ready and arrive on time? Here are some helpful tips that resolved my tardiness habit.

1. Set early alarms to time your morning routine.

To start out, I set many alarm clocks 2 hours before I needed to leave my house. For example, if I had to be somewhere by 8 a.m., I’d wake up at 5:30, get dressed, and was out the door by 7:30 a.m. This sounds eccentric, but when I started setting a stop-watch it calculated the amount of time it took for me to go through my morning routine without rushing. I did this for about three weeks since it takes 18 days to form a habit. Once I set the alarm at my appropriate time, the habit of waking up was natural.

2. Plan to arrive early and leave extra time between activities.

Next, plan to arrive early to functions and leave extra time between activities. If you’re fortunate enough to give yourself time to reset before your class, meeting, or activity, then do it. I gave myself about an hour in between each class. I knew my personal clock moved slow and rushing stressed me out. If you’re someone who hates waiting, embrace the extra time to complete as many tasks as possible so you’ll have less to do later. (That will help with the next step!)

3. The four Ss.

Lastly, create a nightly routine to better yourself for the next morning. My nightly procedures include the 4 S’s: supper, shower, setup, and sleep. Supper, for me, normally happens during 7p.m.-8p.m. The shower step is just like it says; I take a shower and do my skin care routine. The setup step includes laying out clothes for the next day, checking my emails, setting alarms, and making a list of what I have to do the next day. You can personalized this to whatever you feel is most relaxing and betters you for the next day. Then, the sleep step means time for bed with no distractions. AKA no technology! It’s extremely important to get the right amount of sleep based on your health as well. But that’s for another blog. ;)

These tips helped me overcome my personal insecurity of being a “late bird”, and I hope they can help you too.