How To Be On Time (Even If You Always Lose Track of Time)

Are you always running late?

No matter what you try?

Your friends tell you the wrong time, 30 minutes earlier than scheduled, in the hopes you might actually get there at the correct time?

You have every intention of being on time, but you’re overly optimistic about how long things will take?

Or do you simply lose track of time, very easily? (This is me; 100%)

First, you’re not alone.

Second, maybe you don’t care about being late, and find it annoying that others DO care so much. (And if so, feel free to stop reading!)

But back to those of us who are late, but don’t want to be late…anymore.

Seriously, no judgment here.

At least from me.

And I don’t want you to judge yourself either.

You might just be someone who needs some supportive structures in place to help you stay on time.

(Heck, I use basically ALL of the supportive structures below on a regular basis, and I don’t feel bad about it at all.)

So, if you’re someone who’s always running late, and you want to change this, then I have a few things you can try:

Let’s say you have a habit of letting your words get away from you, and you find it difficult to end the meeting when the meeting needs to end.
Set a timer on your phone, and if you feel weird about this, tell whoever you’re meeting with that you’re setting a timer so that you’ll know when to wrap up, so you can both be on time to whatever’s next on your calendar.

And block more time than you need!
Literally, put an appointment on your calendar for “travel”.
Don’t just assume you’ll have enough time to get there.
Work backward, and make sure to include enough buffer for traffic, public transit delays, and circling for parking.

Calendar notifications are annoyingly defaulted to 10 or 15 minutes.
But that’s just enough time to do “one more thing” and then realize you’re still late.
Instead, set those defaults to 2 minutes before the next meeting so you have just enough time to wrap up what you’re doing, but not enough time to start something new.

Having a visual representation of the time we have left before we need to move onto the next thing can be hugely helpful.
You might like one of these visual timers for your desk.
Or, there’s a virtual version called “TimesUp” that I love, that sits in front of your other windows on your computer, ensuring you can’t lose it in the background.
Or, if you keep your agenda’s in Google Docs, use the new “timer smart chip” to add a literal countdown timer to your meeting’s agenda items to help everyone stay on track.
Got a strategy I’ve missed?
What helps YOU be on time?