Even if you go along with the recent UK study that indicated nocturnal people are likely to be more intelligent than their "early morning" counterparts, it's not too bright to constantly be late to work.
Forbes, for example, lists tardiness right up there with lying and procrastination among "14 Bad Habits That Can Cause You to Lose Your Job."
And even if constantly arriving late for work, meetings or business lunches doesn't get you sacked, it can degrade your job performances and ability to get along with bosses and co-workers. Such habits display "an attitude of complacency and carelessness," business career program instructor Roxanne Peplow told Forbes.
Talent Zoo president Amy Hoover agreed and noted, "Whether you intend to or not, arriving late shows disrespect to the social contract of the office place as well as your co-workers who do make an effort to show up on time."
Some have literally been late since their earliest days of setting their own schedules, according to a San Francisco State University study. But while about 20 percent of the American population is chronically late, the study's lead researcher, Diana DeLonzor, said the reasons may not be what those in charge of performance reviews would imagine.
It's not that latecomers don't value other people's time, noted DeLonzer, who is the author of "Never Be Late Again: 7 Cures for the Punctually Challenged.
"Repetitive lateness is more often related to personality characteristics such as anxiety or a penchant for thrill-seeking," she told Fast Company. "Some people are drawn to the adrenaline rush of that last-minute sprint to the finish line, while others receive an ego boost from over-scheduling and filling each moment with activity."
Late people also tend to procrastinate more, demonstrate trouble with self-control and be thrill seekers."People who are chronically late are often wrestling with anxiety, distraction, ambivalence or other internal psychological states," psychologist Pauline Wallin told Refinery 29.
But there are still ways to start being on time, even after a long career of being the last to join the meeting or get to your desk. None of them (phew) advise waking up earlier. Instead, time management and psychology experts recommend these eight strategies:
Analyze this.
The first step toward timeliness, DeLonzor told Refinery 29, is self examination. Take a good look at your history of lateness and any patterns that emerge. Are you indiscriminately late to everything, or do you select certain events or times of day? How does being late make you feel? What causes you to run behind?
Professional organizer and productivity expert Julie Morgenstern encouraged a further question: Are you always late by the same amount of time or does it vary? "If it's always the same, that is indicative of a psychological hurdle," she said. "Maybe you're afraid of downtime, or feel that you have to fit as much as humanly possible into your day (even if it's not humanly possible). If you arrive late by 10 minutes to one thing and 30 minutes to another, the problem is likely mechanical. Your time management skills need work."
Try a tiny bite (of punctuality.)
Wallin advised getting a taste for punctuality with a one-time experiment. Make it something small, like vowing not to get on Facebook before work tomorrow, even for a few seconds. "If you can't commit to a small inconvenience like that," she cautions, "you are not ready to tackle your chronic lateness." Also experiment with just a single episode of being on time. "Just once," Wallin advised, "just to see how it feels. Note your reaction. Are you relieved or anxious? Proud or bored as hell? Then work your way up from there."
Relearn to tell time.
DeLonzor's research indicated that one shared trait of punctual people is that they're realistic about how much time things take. To join them, she encourages chronically late people to write down how long you think it takes to shower, get ready in the morning and drive to work. Then for a week, track the actual time each of those activities take. Chronically late people are often off of their time estimates by 25 or 30 percent, according to DeLonzor.
Stop planning to be on time.
Sorry, this isn't an "out." It's even harder than planning to be on time: you'll need to start planning to be early, giving yourself time for such contingencies as missing a single traffic light or needing to return to the apartment and grab an umbrella. DeLonzor and Morgenstern both recommended planning to be everywhere 15 minutes early.
Make the plan; work the plan. Especially when you're brand new to a commitment to be on time (even if you've been in the work force for decades), you may need to go overboard a bit in planning to be on time. DeLonzor recommended such foreign tactics as checking directions online, checking traffic reports before leaving or even driving to an new location the day before to understand the route.
Bring something appealing to wile away the early arrival minutes.
"Knowing that you have something to occupy your time will help," says DeLonzor. Make the activity specific and compelling, like a fun game on the handheld or a crossword, not 10 minutes extra of bookkeeping for taxes or something like that.
Tap the power of technology.
One powerful component of a habit "loop" is the cue or trigger that prompts you to engage in your habit, according to Harvard Business Review. For being on time, schedule plenty of cues on your phone or laptop. Instead of setting alarms that go off when you're supposed to arrive, though, set one for each duty you need to complete to arrive on time. Another cool idea: set a location-based reminder, for example, a reminder that you have 10 minutes to be on time once you reach the parking garage.
Time your exit.
DeLonzor says many late people — including herself — have an aversion to leaving the house, and suddenly feel the need to straighten the blinds or open the mail when they should be heading out the door. To combat this she uses a mantra of sorts: "When I catch myself doing this, I'll snap or clap and say 'This can wait.'"
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