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1. Get Better At Estimating Time

Tracking how long tasks can take – a huge fail for me. I am constantly late because I have trouble determining how long it takes to perform different tasks – even the ones that I perform on a regular basis. I think it takes me 20 minutes to get to work when in reality it takes me about 35 minutes. I can remedy this by tracking and timing how long it takes me to get certain places OR by consulting my Google maps app ahead of time.

2. Plan for Traffic Or A Setback 

Take the estimated time that you learned in Tip 1 and add 25% to it. Expect traffic, expect a phone call that takes 30 minutes of your work day, expect for your program to crash that you haven’t clicked Save yet. Okay knock on wood for that last one because it’s seriously the worst, but it’s a good standard practice to plan more time than necessary to be somewhere or complete work.

3. Don’t Look At Your Phone or Look At It Less

You might think you’re picking up your phone to just check the time, but you’re really going to click through to Instagram or to check your email in case one more came through – potentially setting you back by at least 10 minutes or more once you get sucked into the iPhone. Instead of picking up my phone multiple times, I’m setting an alarm 20-30 minutes before I need to leave so when it goes off, I know that I need to start wrapping up whatever I’m doing.

4. Set Your Clocks Ahead

Set all of your clocks ahead at different times. That sounds crazy right? But if you can’t remember which clock is set ahead at what number, you have to go by whatever it says. To set your iPhone clock ahead, make sure the automatic option is turned off in your settings, and you can then set it manually.

5. Fill Up Your Gas Tank

UM, how many times have you been in a rush only to see that you’re almost out of gas? Absolute WORST. I’m trying to be more diligent in filling up my gas tank every time I get to 1/4th of a tank. I’ve almost missed a flight because I had to stop off of an exit that didn’t have a gas station right by the interstate. This one is going to be super hard for me because I loathe stopping to get gas. 

6. Plan It Out the Night Before 

You probably hear this all of the time, and your mom might have already made you do this before school. Pick out your clothes the night before. Countless times I have reached into my closet for a shirt only to find that it’s wrinkled – when I really haven’t accounted for the time needed to either steam or iron it. This type of stuff happens to me a lot when I’m trying to plan which outfits I want to share with you guys. The item will either be wrinkled, or I’ll have forgotten to put on a key piece of jewelry.

7. Tackle Your To-Do List

An endless to-do list can be overwhelming, so you’re tendency to be late is because – you have too much to do. Having an unrealistic schedule makes being on time basically impossible. I’m trying to cross off things that aren’t a priority and tackle the most important items on my list in a more timely manner. Another way to do this is to batch your work. More to come on this in a future post!

8. Set Up Desktop Notifications

I have literally started making Outlook and Google calendar notifications for everything. I’ll get a notification sent straight to my phone and my computer screen 15 minutes before it’s going to happen. Most of the time this is for work meetings so that I give myself enough time to prepare materials, but I also do this with scheduled business calls and even webinars for the same reason. 

(I’m a total online webinar nerd you guys.)