We are not always the same people all our life. We change, life changes, and sometimes we end up doing things so differently than what we remember. I never remember being the kid that was late. I think I was actually fairly punctual. Somehow over time (as I discuss in the blog “Savor Every Conversation Bite“) I have turned into that person that is late. My colleagues jokingly call me Tardypants. On Monday I started reading the book “Never Be Late Again: 7 Cures for the Punctually Challenged” by Dianne DeLonzor. What is interesting is that I have checked out this book from the library a few times. Each time I never read it. There are always more interesting ones in my stack. Eventually, when I see a book continue to make its way to the end of the stack, I pull it out and decide if it interests me and I read past the first few pages. If it does, then I commit to finishing it, return it, and not check it out again.

Over the weekend, there was a hefty stack that made its way back to the library in the category of “not interested.” Somehow, “Never Be Late Again” found me at the right moment. After multiple check-outs, this moment in time seems to be just what I needed to read and absorb. Fast forward to Tuesday morning. Chris has an early morning meeting. By early I mean 8:30 (which I think is early). I am not a morning person. It is my zen/quiet time and I do not like to be rushed. I like to get a lot of personal things done in the morning and I do not like to wake up early. Not an easy dilemma to solve… sleep longer and get less time to myself or get up earlier and have more time to get things done for me. Alas, it means I am often rushing (or Chris is often rushing me) out the door.

An hour later at work and I was already behind. Each meeting of my day went long which meant I was late to my next meeting. It was like a domino effect for the rest of the day. Does this bother me? Should it bother me? Yes. On the one hand it is the situation I am in and, on the other, I feel like it might make others that interact with me frustrated and feel like I am being disrespectful. Yet none of my intentions are malicious. I focus my entire self in the meeting I am in. I care about each individual. Sometimes that means I go over time with the person and that trickles into being late for the next person.

My dilemma is how do I fix this? How do I get back on track, keep the respect of those around me, continue to care in the way I do, yet be timely? Maybe this is an easy answer, but it does not feel so simple for me. I am hoping as I continue to read “Never Be Late Again” it will shed some light and give me some aha moments. Do any of you struggle with this? What ideas would you share?

#yesiamlateagain