How to always be on time.. or early

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I ran track in high school.

My coach was a stickler for punctuality, which was understandable. In a track meet, being on time for your race is crucial. After all, you can't win a race if you don't run it on time.

So if you were late to practice the whole team had to do pushups, and being on time meant that you were 10 minutes early.

This was smart because people will take the consequence if it’s just them, but they won’t if there are social ramifications and the whole team gets pissed off at them.

And I hate being hated so I had to be on time.

Thus, my habit for being early to everything was born.

Honestly, it’s better, because I hate rushing to get places, I like to take my time, so I’d rather arrive way to early and maybe walk around and get a feel for my environment while I wait for the other person.

How do I show up on time all the time?

It’s honestly really simple.

Let’s say I have to be in Tempe for a meeting at 2:30.

Most people give themselves 10 minutes to get there so they leave at 2:20. Some people even leave at 2:30🫢.

But it takes 20 minutes to get there.

So my rule of thumb (living in Phoenix) is to give myself a 30 minute buffer time, so I would leave at 2:00.

This can very depending on where you live. If you live in LA, you probably want an hour and a half to 2 hour buffer. And if you get there early, just plan to walk around of a bit.

For a lot of you, if you have a tendency to leave at the time scheduled on your calendar, you have to remember to put it in your calendar for 30min-1hr early.

That’s going to be a difficult habit to remember, but if you can, it’s going to prevent a ton of unnecessary stress, and people will get mad at you less often, which I think, we can all agree, is a preferred outcome.

And ladies, if you usually start getting ready 10 minutes before it’s time to leave, and it takes you 30 minutes to get ready. Add the getting ready buffer time in there as well.

So the key is to identify what your true buffer time needed is.

What if it’s a zoom call?

Well, do you schedule calls back to back to back?

What kind of buffer time do you leave in-between those?

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If it’s an hour long call from 1-2 don’t schedule your next call for 2, schedule it for 2:30, this way if your first call goes over an hour, you’re not rushing to get onto the next one and make that person wait.

If you have to get to an appointment that isn’t a call, add your usual buffer, but include an extra 15 minutes incase the call goes over.

Something that can help are personal scheduling tools, you can build the buffer times in so it’s all automated and then just send people the link and let them pick the time that works best for them. All the times you’re unavailable will be greyed out.

Alright, so that’s how to be on time. Go off and become an early to meetings person. Enjoy the boredom of waiting. Don’t worry, you always have your phone with you to keep you company while you wait for them.

And it’s not totally your fault you’re always late, if you’re a late person, you were just never taught properly, because for some reason, these important skills are never formally taught in school.