As the title says. I always really struggle to be on time (last year I missed around 30% of school😅). I did try some of the popular advice and sometimes it worked, but never for longer than 2 days. Since then I’ve also found out that it’s very likely that I have adhd. Well school is starting soon and I really need to get this under control.
I hate being late, so I over-estimate how long everyrhing takes. I’m early for everything (unless I fuck up my calendar appt and I miss it entirely.)
I plan to be early to the point where I get uncomfortably anxious if I leave on time. I set alarms and reminders to remind me that I need to start thinking about getting ready. I try to be ready way ahead of time. I am experiencing this right now.
I try to be ready to leave, meaning dressed and bag is packed, as early as possible. I am for being as ready as possible at least 15 minutes before I leave. I add and subtract minutes depending on how important the event is and how much I need to have checked before leaving.
also, I try to aim for being at least 10 minutes early for most events. this is working very good for me. it allows small talk with other people who’ve arrived and it allows time for being late.
it is time consuming, but I’ve come to enjoy the breaks it gives, before leaving and when arriving early ^^
also, thinking through what I need to prepare before leaving as early as possible. Often, I think about it the afternoon before I have to pack.
good luck :)
//edit:
these systems don’t stop me from getting distracted and forgetting things, but because I’ve moved everything 15 minutes earlier, then when I’m late for my own deadlines, often I’ll still make it to the actual deadlines :)
I plan my days backwards. If my appointment is at 13:00 tomorrow I check the travel timetables and determine the absolute latest I have to leave. From there, how long does it take to get ready? What time do I have to be awake in order to get ready? What time do I have to be asleep by in order to get a full night of rest? The anxiety and restlessness makes sure I stay on top of it.
…and a lot of weed to make sure I actually do fall asleep on time as one or two puffs too many puts me in the right spot to fall asleep quickly.
Using weed to fall asleep sounds as bad as people relaying on caffeine tabs to stay awake.
Have you tried the US military guide to fall asleep?
It’s a few steps and it helped me a lot
Problem is that something like this doesn’t really hold water against sleeping disorders. Using weed to fall asleep is literally a treatment option often prescribed to people who have sleep problems. I don’t think caffeine tabs are something a doctor would consider if you were having troubles staying awake.
To me, the most useful trick was to set my wristwatch 5 mins ahead of the local time. These days, I only use my phone as a watch but the same principle applies. Catching up bus times was my biggest problem, especially when I needed to use more than one bus line.
You’d think it wouldn’t work since I know I technically have 5 more minutes but reading the time as 07:00 instead of 06:55 was pretty effective for me.
This reminded me something similar I do:
In my bedroom I have a clock from Ikea which I think I’ve never changed batteries (or only once?). ~Ever since I got it, it goes around 5minutes ahead of local time every 6 months. I noticed this soon enough, but I liked the idea, so I deliberately set it to be 5minutes ahead of local time (this means after 6months it’s ~10minutes ahead).
After some years, I got another clock from ikea. I now have two clocks. One clock which supposedly says the real local time and another one (the older one with the bigger display) that shows the local time 5minutes in the future.
Though both drift a few minutes ahead as time passes and on top of that I tend to be too lazy to fix the ±1hour of the daylight saving time on the old clock, so it’s a mess and many times I end up doing calculations when I wake up to figure out the time, lol (Like, the big clock says it’s 08:00, but I have to add 1hour because I didnt add the daylight saving time and I have to subtract 10minutes, because 7months have passed since I last set the time right, thus the actual time is 08:00 + 50minutes = 08:50)
