There’s an ‘epidemic of lateness’, according to Nick Hatter, a behavioural expert and coach.
One in four people say they would rather spend more time in bed than be on time for work, as found in a survey by Brother UK.
And only 19% of Brits think it’s unacceptable to be late to a virtual meeting.
But Nick says our chronic lateness is understandable in today’s society.
Nick says: ‘Many are juggling to meet the growing demands of work, childcare, whilst trying to squeeze in a social life, hobbies, studying, extra-curricular activities and of course, some sleep.
‘No wonder that over a third of office workers are late for work.’
He says there’s also a huge issue of anxiety around being late – which can sometimes make us even less punctual.
‘From a young age, we are conditioned – or rather, shamed – into being on time,’ he explains.
‘Perhaps we were given detention, shouted at by our parents and teachers, and such experiences can leave a deep and ingrained emotionally charged belief that being late is deeply unacceptable and shameful.
‘As a result, this can create a lot of anxiety when we are running late – and this type of conditioning can be very hard to break.’
When we run late, we can fall into bad habits such as catastrophic thinking – thinking that we might be fired, or we will lose a client, for example.
‘All of a sudden, running late feels like a life-or-death situation, as our heart begins to pound, and as adrenaline pumps, we begin to feel stressed, agitated, angry and lose our ability to think clearly,’ he adds.
‘We might then think it’s okay to take unnecessary risks such as speeding, running into closing train doors, or rushing across busy roads, putting ourselves and others in potential danger.’
Tips to avoid being late
- Under schedule and become a pessimist: Rather than trying to cram as much as you can into your schedule, give yourself plenty of breathing space between meetings and activities and give yourself a buffer to account for mishaps, such as traffic, unexpected road works or public transport delays. Expect the worst to happen, especially if it’s a really important meeting or unmissable appointment.
- Accept ‘good enough’ and slightly lower performance standards: Trying to perfectly complete things can be a recipe for lateness, as can ‘just one more thing’. Accept the outcome of your timing and endeavours and stop trying to be perfect.
- Learn to say ‘no’ more: Setting boundaries is key to maintaining punctuality. Practice using phrases like, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t because I have an important appointment I need to make’. Using ‘because’ can be a useful and powerful way to justify your ‘no’.
And if you’re panicking from being late, Nick has a tip to get your breathing back under control.
‘If you’re rushing, to calm yourself down if you’re stressed, you can also do some 7-11 breathing – breathe in for 7 seconds, and out for 11 seconds, which will help activate the parasympathetic nervous system,’ he says.
‘You can also scale your anxiety from 0 to 10 (10 being the highest) in your head to help you step back into your ‘observing self’ and to get some detachment from your emotion.’
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