Do you ever find yourself explaining why you are late day after day to work, or anything else? You know that you need to make a change but all attempts you have previously made have been met with failure. So how do you stop this cycle of neverending tardiness?
1. Start with the assumption that you can do anything for one month. Set yourself the short term goal of 30 days of punctuality to really break the old habit and start the new one. This could include waking up earlier, leaving the house 10 minutes earlier than normal or setting your clothes out the night before to just be prepared for the following day.
2. Get up when the alarm goes off. That ever-so-wonderful snooze button will give you five or 10 extra minutes of shut-eye but could also be the difference between getting to work on time and being late again. How can you fix this? Try a fun alarm clock! Clocks like the flying “Catch me” alarm or an alarm on wheels may make all the difference. You can’t hit the snooze button if it is running away from you.
3. If an event is later in the day, set an alarm for 10 minutes before you should leave. Doing this will remind you that you need to get ready and be out the door sooner rather than later.
4. Treat yourself. After being on-time for a month or even a week, reward yourself. Maybe this is an upgraded coffee or your favorite pastry. If you don’t reward yourself, you could very easily lose all motivation to keep going.
5. Remember that you are not perfect. Having to wake up early, setting multiple alarms, or just pushing yourself to leave extra early can really hinder your motivation. If there are a few days out of the month that you were late, so what! You made it through all of the other days in the month on time. That is something you could not have said the previous month.
–By Adam Scott
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