There is little that is more condescending and arrogant than a person that is constantly late. Not only is being late rude, it is disrespectfully of other people. Try these tips to break yourself of the late habit.

1. Never assume that being late is all right. Never allow yourself the luxury of saying to yourself, “It’s only a few minutes,” “It’s only half an hour.” You are not more important than the person you are meeting nor is your time more valuable. Never be so arrogant as to expect other people to adapt their lives and schedules to your timetable.

2. Use an agenda. With everyone having at minimum a cell phone and at best an electronic agenda there is no excuse for completely forgetting or being late for an appointment. Enter the appointment time PLUS travel time and time to finish with whomever you are previously meeting. Not giving yourself enough time between meeting is a surefire way to repetitively be late.

3. Assume that what will go wrong usually does. Allow yourself “crisis time” so that if you do run into traffic or your previous meeting runs over, you will have the extra time to make the next meeting as scheduled.

4. Don’t overbook yourself. Setting back to back meeting gives you the impossible task of being on time. Leave time between meetings. Not only will this allow for travel time but it will also give you time to reflect and process the information from the previous meeting and to prepare for the next.

5. Prioritize!!! Don’t say yes to someone when you that you don’t have the time to accomplish what they are asking of you. Force yourself to learn how to say “No, I’m sorry but I don’t have time to do that today but I have time available tomorrow.” Be firm and don’t let them convince you that they only need a few minutes of your time as it is rarely the case.

6. Slow down! People are often late because the forget. They forget because they are functioning at such a hectic pace that their mind is always working under stress. You are only ONE person with a set number of hours in the day. Don’t set yourself a schedule that is physically impossible for you to accomplish.

Those are a few tricks to help you be on time. I believe the most important is attitude. If you remember how insulted you felt when someone made you wait after them when they were late, how disrespected you felt, then chances are you won’t treat others in the same manner.

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image via Flickr