6 tips to be punctual and avoid being late
As much as it is known that making others wait is a nuisance and that the time they lose is gold, there are some people who have real problems to be punctual in your appointments and meetings . It is a phenomenon that costs to explain, it simply happens. Before they realize it, they leave home with much less time than necessary, and end up arriving systematically late.
However, these behavioral tendencies can be corrected, and anyone can reach get used to the habit of being punctual always or almost always. How to do it? For that, it is good to get in touch with the principles of the cognitive-behavioral approach.
Modifying ideas and habits
This psychological approach is based on a premise that, in such a simple way, seems revolutionary; it consists of modifying both beliefs and habits (the habitual ways of behaving, moving, etc.) so that a new way of acting can be consolidated-
So, if you want to learn to be punctual, you have to change both the actions, from the smallest details, to the thoughts and the way in which the consequences of those actions are interpreted.
Knowing this, let's see some useful indications for, little by little, changing habits.
Tips to be punctual
This series of keys to be punctual are orientative, and you have to know how to adapt them and apply them to each case. They offer an overview of the problem and its possible solutions, but in case many problems arise and these significantly damage the quality of life, it is advisable to go directly to a professional who offers personalized treatment.
- Related article: "The 10 most used cognitive-behavioral techniques"
1. Set alarms systematically
Every time an appointment is set, you have to write it down in an agenda and set an alarm so that it sounds when you have to start preparing to go. It is very important not to postpone this phase , because it is easy to be given little importance and end up falling into oblivion.
2. Discard the optimistic option
The phenomenon by which some people always arrive late is a kind of procrastination, or "I will do it tomorrow syndrome", although in these cases it occupies temporary limits that instead of occupying several days occupy minutes. That means that, unconsciously, we make excuses not to have to leave at the right time, usually because he is lazy .
Many times you arrive late because it is assumed that you will have a stroke of luck at the time of moving quickly to the place where you have stayed. For example, the belief that buses will arrive just as we approach the stop. It is necessary to anticipate the emergence of those beliefs to be able to recognize them when they appear in our mind and then discard them immediately, as a rule, so as not to fall into their seductive influence.
3. Target hours of travel
For the most important appointments, it is good to sign up a mini-schedule on the sequence of actions to be followed to arrive on time, highlighting the most important phases of a process that can last less than an hour. For example, the time to start dressing, combing, leaving home, etc. The initial stages are the most important, and therefore they must be more numerous and more detailed than the rest.
4. Mini-penalties
Every time you arrive late, even for a minute, you have to pay a small fine , which may consist of a number of coins worth a dinner, for example. If this commitment is made to more people, better, because there is more pressure to fulfill it. Also, you have to pay that fine in the next 24 hours.
5. Forbidden to run
This rule is explained alone. In addition, it has two functions. On the one hand, it prevents the possibility of leaving late at the prospect of being able to recover time running. For the other, the stress of being late to a place and not being able to run It makes, if this happens, serves as a much more powerful lesson about the type of situations that need to be avoided.
6. Trick the clock
At the beginning, it is good to subtract ten minutes from the time you have stayed and take this measure very seriously as part of the process of learning to be punctual. This will make it possible to experiment the positive sensations produced by reaching the sites within time settled down and that you do not want to return to the previous situation.
In some way, this situation serves to begin to experience what it is not to go with the worry of being late everywhere, and see that it is possible to do so if you follow rules that despite looking like the rules of a game, work .
