Every so often I can make it happen, but most times I’m struggling regardless of how much prep time I give myself. Feel like it might be related to ADHD? Either way, I’m so bad at it
i have a weird thing where even if i have enough time, i just keep finding things that i need to do before leaving. they are usually simple to do but brain defines them as urgent so i cannot just push them for later and they keep me from actually leaving the house until it’s late. this becomes worse for things i don’t really want to do but have to, so i think it’s like a subconcious way i have to cope with the anxiety of leaving or something
I have a lot of anxiety when I’m running late for something so for me going out usually goes like this: Well it should take 40 minutes to get there. So I’ll leave an hour before to be on the safe side. No actually, id better leave 15 minutes before that, just to be double safe.
Oh, I arrived like forty minutes early?
No, but here are my tips, I feel my time management skills came from being forced to navigate bad city transit as a young child alone.
- Get a watch and look at it a lot. Time yourself doing various things, especially meditating. Soon enough you will be able to naturally ‘know’ when 15 minutes has passed. I give myself 22 minutes to get ready in the morning and I basically know what sort of delays could arise and I make time for them and adjust if I’m taking too long doing a certain thing.
- When possible, use your voice. As in the old adage “don’t let your mouth write a check your ass can’t cash”. If you are not totally sure if you can mitigate delays, adjust the time you tell people you will be arriving and give yourself more time or warn people you may be late as soon as you know. Obviously, for certain things the arrival time is not negotiable.
- Try not to rely on others when possible, including public transit, cars, etc. Also of course not always possible, but generally walking and biking are less prone to delays. Use map apps constantly.
If I want to be punctual I usually need to plan at least 20-30min extra buffer time into it. Like if I have a travel time of 15min (via public transports which can be funky) I should set 45min aside for it tbh assuming its important.
Thats just me though. Im aware different people work differently.
The only time I haven’t struggled with this is when I was compelled by carpool and bus schedules. Wasn’t desirable.
