Late Again?

Alehandra13 via Pixabay

As we head into Easter, I'm looking forward to some days off. Though I've managed to take a few small steps forward in my office intervention (the pile of income tax receipts has been organized, totaled and removed from my counter permanently), serious progress has taken a back seat to class planning and grading, and I'm anxious to dig in again.

One of the small steps I took last night was going through a stack of pages from my page-a-day Happiness Project calendar. Their removal left a nice, albeit small, clear space on the counter -- yet another baby step in the direction of progress.

As I culled the pages, I came across a few that inspired blog post ideas, like the one that offered three tips to overcome chronic lateness:

1. Time your commute. Late people often underestimate how much travel time they need.
2. Don't try to squeeze in one last task before you leave. This is a common reason for tardiness.
3. Get organized in advance. Don't wait until the lat minute to pull together everything you need to bring with you. 

I know all of these things, and I've gotten pretty good at eliminating issues with the first one. While I could certainly stand to improve on #3 (actually putting the items I need into my bag, for example, instead of just creating stacks that need to leave the house with me), that's not the biggest issue for me either.

But the second one? That one gets me every time. I've even written about ways to tame it. But, temptation lurks in the form things large and small that call out to me as I'm on my way out the door. I can't seem to help myself.

But I really should. It's not as though those things are going anywhere.

And that's the problem. Knowing those things will be in the same place when I come home nudges me to take that extra moment to put them where they belong before I leave. The misplaced optimism that leads me to believe that I can magically make it where I'm going in the time that remains doesn't stand a chance against the irresistible immediate gratification of checking something off my list. The result? A perfect storm of tardiness. I hate being late, but apparently not enough to put an end to the self-deceit that is one-more-thing-itis.

Yummymoon via Pixabay

But I will try. Armed with self-awareness and a short list of strategies, I will try -- again -- to overcome my one-more-thing-itis. The reward, though less immediate, will be a timely arrival at my destination, wherever that may be.

Wish me luck.