Some people’s brains tell them that certain activities don’t take any time to complete – the “Zero Time Activity” misconception. For example:
“We need to leave the house at 09:30 to arrive at our appointment for 10:00. Good. It takes 30 minutes to get there. Good. It is now 09:30. Let’s leave the house. All we need to do now is…”
– Nip to the toilet
– Find my coat
– Find my shoes and put them on
– Find my wallet/bag and check I’ve got what I need
– Get the kids in their coats and shoes
– Get in the car, strap the kids in
– Find the address of our destination
– Program the satnav
– Drive to the destination
– Quickly stop for fuel
– Find somewhere to park
– Walk to the destination from the place parked
It goes without saying, but ever single activity above does actually take a small amount of time which all adds up. Once you internalise the idea that there isn’t such a thing as “Zero Time Activities”, you’ll notice that you start arriving on time.
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Just plan to be there at 9:50
It seems simpler than you’re making it
Isn’t it handy that most people have a little computer in their pocket (some also on their wrist) that can keep track of the time and even set alarms?
Nah this isnt LPT. This is over complicating things.
It’s better to be 30 minutes early than 5 minutes late.
thanks for bringing that up, i’m sure it’s going to help a lot of people who need reassurance in giving value to their time
I always plan half my travel time extra (up to a certain point). Helps lots.
Ahh, I see what’s going on in this comments section. OP is neurodivergent. Everybody commenting isn’t and thinks this is stupid because their brains naturally keep time better. I know this because I’m neurodivergent and time-blindness is something I wrestle with explaining the concept of to family and friends on a regular basis.
>It goes without saying but
If I say I leave at 9:30, I actually mean that I turn the key of my car at that time. Or slam the door behind me if I walk. Who doesn’t do it like that?
I consistently give myself 10-15 minutes to get my 3 under 3 in the car and I’m shocked every time that I use basically all 10-15 lol
Leaving early also makes the drive significantly less stressful.
Driving becomes really enjoyable when every red light, slow driver in front, or diversion doesn’t matter because you’re ahead of time.
And if you get there without any delays, the extra 15 minutes will fly by, and you’re not stressing about being late
Sending this to my wife. Her response when I try to explain this is “it takes 2 seconds”. Everything takes 2 seconds.
Small nitpick: why would you drive somewhere half an hour away and stop for gas after you’re already nearly there, especially if you’re running late? Either do that as you’re leaving your house or after you’re leaving your destination (or ideally the day before)
I’ll come out and say it, I have this problem, not all the things on the list but some definitely only come to me after I’m “ready to go” usually one or two, I’m ready to go, I just need to nip to the loo then put my shoes on, and when I allow more time, I always end up filling it with more “that won’t take a moment” things, so thank you OP, I knew I was a time averse scoundrel, but perhaps seeing it written down I can try harder
We realised in work one day that I have this ‘zero time activity’ because I had an appointment and we were working back from the appointment time to figure out when I needed to leave work.
And realised I didn’t think that packing up my desk, leaving the office and walking to the car would take any time at all, I thought I would leave at say 12.30pm and be at my car and ready to drive at… 12.30pm. It really blew my mind
Also understand that if your late you are usually MAKING SOMEONE ELSE WAIT for you because you don’t respect their time.
I just plan to leave 30 min early, especially with small children
I think it also helps if you learn to feel guilt for having someone wait for you. The minutes in your life are not worth more than someone else’s. Then you learn to be slightly early so that you haven’t wasted someone’s time
When I was a lot younger I was 5-10 minutes late to everything. I was pulled aside and told that I would lose my job (in the arts) if I didn’t knock it off, so I trained myself to always be 10-15 minutes early. The fact of the matter is you’re not losing any time by being early, you’re gaining a relaxed nervous system and the time to get a little reading in between things. It now drives me absolutely nuts when people plan to arrive at or after time. Just plan to be early, plan to have a book with you on purpose because you want to read it. Everyone’s happier and you now also have a reading habit.
Also the great impression of being the one who is always on time vs. 10 minutes “saved”. I have a really hard time getting up early, but I get up even 10 or 15 minutes earlier than I have to just to be 100 % sure I’ll be on time. One of the first at work 7:50 in the morning, and they already joke when I come 7:59 or 8:00. That extra sleep doesn’t matter, but the impression does.
A friend of mine is the opposite. Often just 1 – 5 minutes late, which gives a terrible impression and doesn’t help at all.
It can also help to measure certain activities for a while, accurately with a stopwatch. That can create an intuitive ability to manage this which can last for good.
I am like this with the monthly VAT declaration for my business, though. Often 2 or 3 days late. I talked to somebody who works at the collection office, and he said that’ll look pretty much the same as someone who is very late or does not turn it in without a warning note at all. The overview screen just shows it as orange, and it’s 12xorange for 12 months.
Just follow the military motto, “if you’re not 15 minutes early, you’re late.”
My roommates very much suffer from the “Zero Time Activity” mindset. If we have to be somewhere at 10 and it takes 15 minutes to get there, they START getting ready to go at 9:45 if I don’t do anything. I now make it a point to tell everyone to start getting ready, at least 10 minutes before we need to leave, and even then they sometimes are very begrudging about acting when I tell them to saying I’m being too anxious. Then low and behold, we actually arrive on time. They’ve gotten better, but it still sucks being late when I was ready to go well before they even started.
For me this also has been realising that I didn’t use a car for most of my life leaving in large EU cities. But now, I have to get used to the car, the traffic, and the parking. Lots of variables that were not part of the plan before. I’m late when I drive somewhere, getting better.
LPT: wash your hands after the toilet.
The Michael McIntyre clip about leaving the house is great and seems appropriate
https://youtu.be/a-9M4pLDS9Q?si=wfA7no3CzSpAoOBS
I always reserve 5min for grabbing everything, getting shoes and jacket on and possibly having to fill my water bottle or go pee. (If you have kids, make this 20min.)
And I always add 5min buffer for the way to somewhere. I make it ten if it’s a one hour long drive or one hour if I take a regional train.
Or do it the Italian way: don’t stress over it
I used to always leave my home 15-30 minutes early for college, and as a result I used to reach 15-30 minutes early. The latest I have been to college was exactly on time because the metro stopped between 2 platforms for 15-30 minutes because someone was on the tracks.
If you’re ever waiting to leave for a place, just leave now and wait there.
People are like this? I’m the opposite
Showering takes like 10-15ish minutes, let’s say 20 to be safe. Let’s chuck in 30 minutes to make food, guess it makes sense to say 30 minutes to eat it too (it doesn’t) now I’ll put an extra 15 minutes for all the weird small things like finding keys, putting on socks, etc, and then I’ll add another 15 just be safe. Now I’m ready to go abs I still have an hour and a half and I have no idea what to do so I just sit in ready status until I go
This is helpful…but how do you know how much time to budget for all those little activities?
I can be on time to work, bc I always do the same things to get ready and I know how long they take.
But I can’t be on time to social events bc I am not accurate at figuring out how long it will take me to decide my outfit and get it ready, do makeup, google directions, bring things I don’t normally take with me, etc. So I dont know when I should stop doing life tasks and start getting ready.
Usually what I do if it’s in the city is clock my GPS time and double it. Just as a rule of thumb. So I gotta be there at 10 AM and it takes 30 minutes to be there. I need to be in that car by 9 AM. I fuck around too much and get distracted otherwise
Being on time is an easy win and I always take those. Courteous too which is noticed more than you might think.
I have ADHD and get pretty bad time blindness sometimes but I am NEVER late. Easiest solution: Go everywhere early.
9am appointment? Set it so you want to be there at 8.30. Has never failed me
I am always 10 mins early to all my appointments because I can’t handle the stress of being late.
“The only person who’s time matters is my own.”
-late people
Ive defeated being late by not saying ill be on time. Around 10 or 10ish. 7.30…. yea, fuck no, lets reschedule. 8.30 works for me.
Being consistently late is an incredibly childish trait. It’s also insufferably rude to everyone else.
If you aren’t early, you are late
All true… but if you are 5 min late to everything… its because you don’t care. It’s not the hard to notice your own behavioral trend, and starting things 5 min earlier is just about the easiest thing there is. If you haven’t fixed this… its because you don’t want to.
Who told you to do all these things? Seems too much. Why do you need to find things, they would where you left them.
Program the satnav? What are you? Open maps and put address.
Always fill the tank full whenever you go to pump.
Do people who arrive on time have a checklist for these things?
I think it also has to do with time buffers and “too positive thinking”. You need extra buffer time in case things go wrong, and your brain is reluctant to potentially waste time in case nothing goes wrong. (I can always listen to podcasts when I arrive too early.) … But I also sometimes arrive late when nothing goes wrong.
What I have found that works somewhat is that I remember how much too late I was last time and then add that time to my mental “journey time”. “Last time when I calculated 30 minutes, I came 10 minutes too late, so now I have to get ready 40 minutes before I want to arrive.” Usually the 10 minutes are exactly the duration of the journey before I get in the car. Planning consciously at all instead of unconsciously also helps.
Always confuses me those who time things to the last minute, what exactly were you going to do with the extra 5-10 minutes? Why not leave early then chill on the other side if you are early?
I have a coworker who arrives 1 or 2 minutes late every day, but he insists that being late by just 1 or 2 minutes doesn’t count as actually arriving late.
I feel personally targeted…
I leave at 930 for a 15 minute drive to a 1000 appointment for this reason. (I tend to be forgetful – like I have the water bottle ready to go, but it has no water kind of stuff.) Also, as soon as stuff falls out of place it is OKAY to call ahead. Call, text, say you are heading out a few minutes late, be there by 10:15!
In my mind, if I said we’re going to leave at 10 am, it means we will start moving at 10 am. Not we’re getting ready to move at 10 am.
I’ve never understood how people can be late. My brothers both are always late. Most the people in my family are late. I never got it till I read this. I swear lol
Or use the term “wheels up” like they do in flights.
Plan to go “wheels up” or we sometimes call it “AIS” (Asses in seats) at 9:30. If you’re not in the car by 9:30, we’re leaving without you.
Getting up early works except when I do a little extra getting ready activities, because I have “lots of time”. Then I end up being late even though I allowed extra time.
Use backwards planning.
I used to think like that when I was 5, but I had decent parents who wouldn’t accept that
phffffft… just drive faster and can roll some stops. no worrie/s
Mapping apps have made for worse “getting somewhere on time” ppl always operating with “ideal” analytics driven estimates… also, ppl driving batshit crazy are in the analytic metrics LOL
hay, YOU DRIVER, you are the biggest fail/weak point of any plan, and it doesn’t have YOUR BS in that arrival time estimate.