As the title says. I always really struggle to be on time (last year I missed around 30% of school😅). I did try some of the popular advice and sometimes it worked, but never for longer than 2 days. Since then I’ve also found out that it’s very likely that I have adhd. Well school is starting soon and I really need to get this under control.
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What has always worked for me and plan ahead the time you need to get ready/commute. For me it takes 30 minutes to get ready and 30 minutes to commute so I have to get ready 1 hour before I need to be somewhere. This only works if you are honest with yourself. So if that’s an issue, than you have bigger problems than punctuality.
I was shamed in my early years for not getting to school on time, that combined with some anxiety makes sure I always srruve before I need/want to
Pay attention to how laye you generally are. I used to be chronically late. I began to notice I was generally about 20-30 minutes behind. I could often make up some of that, but it was rushed.
The fix was quite simple, I trained myself to add 30 minutes “faffing time” to any estimate or leave time. I have an “aim to leave” and “MUST leave” time. I generally leave about 10-15 minutes ‘late’, but due to the buffer, I have 15-20 minutes leeway still to deal with things like extra traffic.
I found a job where my boss doesn’t care when I show up so long as the work is getting done.
The only other solution that works for me is going to bed obnoxiously early (like 9) and aiming to show up an HOUR ahead of time.
I set my alarms extra early so I have plenty of time to hit the snooze button 4 times while I gradually wake up. I also set the clock in my car 10-15 minutes fast. People have asked, “If you know exactly how fast it is, why not just put it on the right time?”
That is a damn good question, but we’re not going to change it and find out.
If I need to be somewhere at 6:00, I need to focus on leaving at 5:30. My brain latches onto 6:00 and I’ll get out of the house at 6:00.
This is such a weird phenomenon that I entirely relate to.
I try to plan on doing something optional in the area before the thing. Something I would like to do but can skip like pick up food.
alarms for everything and i always leave early.
I plan my days backwards. If my appointment is at 13:00 tomorrow I check the travel timetables and determine the absolute latest I have to leave. From there, how long does it take to get ready? What time do I have to be awake in order to get ready? What time do I have to be asleep by in order to get a full night of rest? The anxiety and restlessness makes sure I stay on top of it.
…and a lot of weed to make sure I actually do fall asleep on time as one or two puffs too many puts me in the right spot to fall asleep quickly.
Using weed to fall asleep sounds as bad as people relaying on caffeine tabs to stay awake.
Have you tried the US military guide to fall asleep?
It’s a few steps and it helped me a lot
Trying this just keeps me up even more because now I’m focusing on falling asleep which means I can’t sleep
Problem is that something like this doesn’t really hold water against sleeping disorders. Using weed to fall asleep is literally a treatment option often prescribed to people who have sleep problems. I don’t think caffeine tabs are something a doctor would consider if you were having troubles staying awake.
Ooh, thanks for the link. I’d forgotten about it.
I plan to be early to the point where I get uncomfortably anxious if I leave on time. I set alarms and reminders to remind me that I need to start thinking about getting ready. I try to be ready way ahead of time. I am experiencing this right now.
To me, the most useful trick was to set my wristwatch 5 mins ahead of the local time. These days, I only use my phone as a watch but the same principle applies. Catching up bus times was my biggest problem, especially when I needed to use more than one bus line.
You’d think it wouldn’t work since I know I technically have 5 more minutes but reading the time as 07:00 instead of 06:55 was pretty effective for me.
This reminded me something similar I do:
In my bedroom I have a clock from Ikea which I think I’ve never changed batteries (or only once?). ~Ever since I got it, it goes around 5minutes ahead of local time every 6 months. I noticed this soon enough, but I liked the idea, so I deliberately set it to be 5minutes ahead of local time (this means after 6months it’s ~10minutes ahead).
After some years, I got another clock from ikea. I now have two clocks. One clock which supposedly says the real local time and another one (the older one with the bigger display) that shows the local time 5minutes in the future.
Though both drift a few minutes ahead as time passes and on top of that I tend to be too lazy to fix the ±1hour of the daylight saving time on the old clock, so it’s a mess and many times I end up doing calculations when I wake up to figure out the time, lol (Like, the big clock says it’s 08:00, but I have to add 1hour because I didnt add the daylight saving time and I have to subtract 10minutes, because 7months have passed since I last set the time right, thus the actual time is 08:00 + 50minutes = 08:50)
I hate being late, so I over-estimate how long everyrhing takes. I’m early for everything (unless I fuck up my calendar appt and I miss it entirely.)
That’s me. I’m an hour early if something’s SUPER important. 5 min late for everything else.
this is me. I will always use the longest google route estimate and such.
Funny thing is that this is the ONE ADHD thing I don’t have. My trick: Super-panic about being late.
The broader strategy is that I set an exact time that triggers the “panic mode”. So for example when I need to take a 3 day trip, I put my open suitcase in the middle of the room and fill it only casually as is convenient, starting days before. Hours before departure, I’m putting what is still missing in, but very relaxed, and do other things such as shower, eat, whatever needs to be done. But like 20 minutes before departure, the “panic mode” is triggered. Whatever is still missing then is done with maximum stress, only absolute show-stoppers, no optionals, complete panic the whole time.
Knowing that panic mode is still there to help last minute, allows me to do the entire thing very relaxed.
Be early. Not being pedantic, I mean literally attempt to be early. For me that generally gets me very close to the set time.
Exactly.
People with ADHD often have a misthinking about time, how long things take, etc.
And people in general don’t want to waste time, being early feels like wasting time.
The thing is, something nearly always happens which eats up that “extra” time reserved for being early… So you’re not early after all.
Being late is not something i struggled as much. I just found people generally underestimate how long it takes to get ready.
Though now I’m late more often because i stopped caring, and it’s because I was always too early which is also not good so 🤷
