[Libby Huffman]

Being late to work can give the wrong impression. For some of us, breaking the habit is hard, but it can be done. Investigate the effects of punctuality on our professional life and how to overcome the habit of being late.

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[NicoleMiller]

Great article Libby! I am going to take the challenge to stop hitting snooze and get up the first time my alarm goes off. It will be hard (very hard), but after doing it for a couple weeks I hope to break my snooze button habit and feel more refreshed each morning.

[Ms. Bridgette Jones]

Hi Libby,
Guilty as charged... It is such a hard habit to break. You make it sound as easy as pop up and go. However, some of us are not morning people and never have been. I am so much more productive in the late morning, early afternoon and evenings. What I find hard is that by the time I get home and fight traffic, feed the kids,pets, do house hold chores etc...(I am a single mom) that it is very late and the "me time" and just relaxing does not come until very late in the evening. I do agree with you that getting more sleep may help but I think it takes baby steps and that maybe working to get yourself up 10 minutes earlier each day for a week or two may be more effective. I hear that to break a bad habit it takes at least a month. I know this will not sound rational...I was actually fired from a job once due to punctuality issues (but I hated the job). I think another issue is not liking your job so maybe it is time to move on if you are in that rut. The other issue is sometimes like in my office where everyone else is always late it almost becomes company protocol but then like you said there is no excuse for being late and then you become just like the other late people (because there is always one bright eyed bushy tailed person there in the morning who resents the rest of us and complains). Aside from your pop up and get up idea, do you have any other advice for those of us who HATE getting up early? I really do not want to be the late person anymore and yes, I am guilty of the traffic excuses, and a gazillion other excuses. Anyway, your article made me think, made me realize that the excuses need to go and that I need to come up with some sort of plan of becoming the "EARLY BIRD" even if it kills me. I'll report back and let you know how it goes. Starting next Monday I will try your bounce up method and let you know how it goes!

[Libby Huffman]

I completely understand how you feel. Believe it or not, I'm not a morning person either. On the weekends I sleep in until at least 10am. In my case, I think that because my mom was always late for everything (including picking me up from school), I took the other extreme and am always a little early for everything. Even though I hate the morning and would prefer to do everything in the late morning, early afternoon, I feel a deep sense of obligation that makes me wake up and get moving.

I do not have any children and therefore, fewer obligations so I can't say that I can identify there. I know nothing is as easy as just popping up and going, but it's the idea of repeating each behavior to make it a habit. A little will power can go a long way. Try getting the whole family on an earlier schedule. I know your "me" time is precious, so I feel that it's important for you to have. But, perhaps you can get dinner done earlier, the kids to bed earlier and maybe a nice bath and bedtime for you earlier.

I know it seems like I must be a bubbly morning person and that's why it's so easy for me to "just get up", but I promise you that's not me at all. I think that after waiting for people all of my life and being disappointed by their lack of consideration has led me to be punctual to a fault. I think between you and I, there is a happy medium in there somewhere, so maybe we can try together to get it under control.

Let me know how your efforts turn out.

[Chrissy Scivicque]

I would just like to say that I personally pride myself on always being early. But Libby always beats me! She's the MOST "on time" person I've ever met.

I also have a friend (we'll call her "Jane") who is ALWAYS late. Sometimes it's ten minutes, sometimes it's an hour. It is such a selfish habit. She's lost jobs and friends because of it. I don't understand perpetual lateness. My anxiety wouldn't allow it.

[LisaOlsen]

I worked for a CEO for several years who expected everyone else to be on time to meetings, but was consistently late himself. Sometimes he was up to 1/2 hour late. As his assistant I tried everything I could to help him.

What changed my thinking on this idea was the impression these other managers and meeting attendees were getting - and they verbalized it. They felt their time was not respected at all. That's the key to understand how important it is to develop a good habit of being on time, or as Chrissy suggested, being early - in both my personal and professional life. Sometimes due to unforeseen circumstances, we can't control some things - but for the most part, we can manage ourselves a little better. It has to do with respecting other people's time and schedules and the message it sends them. That particular boss lost some respect in the eyes of his peers, and that's unfortunate. The boss may have felt he had a good excuse, but it makes no difference.

Being on time is so much less stressful, too.

[lilysunshine]

Man, I am totally the late one. Generally I am able to keep it to a few minutes nowadays.

The thing that seriously broke me of my habit? I stopped driving to work and started catching the bus. There is nothing like knowing the next bus won't come for 45 minutes to get you out of bed in the morning.

[NicoleMiller]

So, today I tried it. Getting up when my alarm went off without hitting snooze...it didn't work Attempt 2 tomorrow.

[swanbird]

If you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning (which I do!!), you might find this article interesting: How to get up right away when your alarm goes off.

[LisaOlsen]

Libby - I laughed out loud at your comment about no success on day one!! I laughed because I absolutely had the same experience. Since I work from home, I figure it doesn't really make any difference if I hit the snooze button!! But the days I do get early I find I am much more productive, get my 5 mile walk in (any day that I sleep in, I mentally convince myself I don't have time to walk!) and just get more done and feel better.

Great post. Such a good reminder. Nice to know every morning all of us here at the OA community are reaching for that alarm and thinking the same thing.....GET UP!!!!