be more punctual

This past week, I was late once I believe, a little bit under five minutes. Not so terrible.

The week of the 9th I believe, I was late four days out of five. It was one of those weeks where I felt I was rushing every morning. That wasn’t pleasant of course. The latest was probably 15 minutes or so. Last week, I made it on time every day. I really think that to be consistent, for me, a combination of better planning, getting to bed earlier, waking up when planned and having an efficient morning routine would help. It may sound like a lot, and it can be done without all of these things, but I think each of these things serves its purpose and in the end, once they become routine, it is like second nature and you are naturally successful.

Sigh. Well last week, I believe I was late twice. I can’t remember the first as well, but the second was in part due to my waking up late. It was the latest I had ever woken up. I sat up and couldn’t figure out what I should do. I went as quickly as I could and ended up being about ten minutes late which was quite surprising really. It could have been worse but still, I didn’t feel great about it. I didn’t even have the heart to apologize that time.

This week I was doing okay, though today it was a couple of minutes past by the time I entered the office. It wasn’t so bad, I know, but I am still counting it.

It really isn’t so complicated, so when will I get this?

It was better. Fortunately, four days out of five I was on time. The one day I wasn’t was due to the metro being stalled. I still need to work on this.

I didn’t do so well. Four out of five days I was late, ranging from a few to five minutes but still. This week I am hoping to do better and day 1 was a success. Tomorrow I hope to arrive at the metro about a good 20 minutes earlier than I have been so I can enjoy the ride (as much as I can) without constantly checking my watch. Didn’t check as often today, and it was a nice break.

After being the latest I’ve ever been yesterday (20 minutes I think), I was late again today by about 15 minutes. Though there were some parts that were out of my control, I have to take responsibility. I haven’t been getting things ready ahead of time, have been getting to bed later and have been leaving later. Then I was sweating all the way home. Needless to say, the fatigue I have been feeling this week caught up to me today and it was one of those days that started and ended in frustration (though it’s not over yet so I can turn the ending around, right? If I could just not be so grumpy…). This weekend can’t come quickly enough, it seems.

I have to work on this. I was doing so well. :(

Since my last entry, there was one day when I was about two minutes late for no good reason and another, ten minutes… that was the worst so far. It may not seem like much but I had been doing well and I want to make the effort to keep it up and not have that day when I was late become a regular occurence. As time went on, I began to leave later than I should have so I need to work at leaving earlier to give myself that extra time. So here I go again – it is a new year, a new month, and I can do it!

Sometimes I take the bus and metro and sometimes I get a ride. Towards the end of last week, we were in the car and things seemed to be moving rather slowly. I started to say something, and my mom said something like, yes, we’re stuck in traffic and we’re likely gonna be late today. I didn’t want to hear that. I felt somewhat defeated, thinking about how I would have to start over, saying a little prayer and still trying to think positive. At a certain point it cleared and we were on our way. We made it and I was so thankful. She had prayed about it too and said something like, who said prayers don’t work? I told myself that I would make more of an effort to be ready to leave earlier. For a few days, I hadn’t been as prepared as I could be – no lunch, ironing in the morning, etc. I have since been trying to get things ready at night. This Tuesday on my way home I already knew what I planned to wear the next day and had an idea for my lunch, which is rarely the case.

Anyway, the weather took a turn and unfortunately, yesterday morning, we didn’t think to start the car earlier. It was frozen. The night before, I was already contemplating whether it might be better to take the bus and metro as a safer alternative, and I thought about it again in the morning as we tried to scrape the car, but I also thought it would be more time-efficient. So off we went to catch the bus. Unfortunately, due to delays, I arrived 15-20 minutes late. Some of my coworkers didn’t show up. My boss was going to be coming in a bit later. I felt disappointed but also felt I had tried, and that it was understandable with the circumstances. It’s funny because this might have been the thing to make me feel what I had accomplished so far was lost and I should start over but I didn’t feel this way. I looked at it as an exception because I have been doing well.
Trouble is today I arrived even later. There was terrible traffic – we were barely moving – and the sun was a factor too. I tried to think positive but I ended up making a call shortly before my shift to let the office know I was running late. It was out of our control but I wonder if it would have made a difference to leave earlier (15 to 30 minutes). I’m not sure, though, and how were we to know? But the weather was a clue. Still, my mom mentioned that she had not seen traffic this bad in a long time, and I think my boss was stuck in traffic too. Anyway, tomorrow it is confirmed: we are taking public transportation. It is not the most comfortable ride, considering how crowded it tends to be, but that’s okay.

So what do you think? Do these lates count? In the end, I feel like I am trying and am making efforts to improve upon this, or find ways to. Other than these, there were two times where I came in literally about two minutes late, but this was because I actually arrived earlier and had to use the washroom.

So this is where I stand. I am determined to be on time tomorrow – I am crossing my fingers that I can rely on good ol’ public transport.

As I wrote my last entry, I worried about possibly jinxing myself and ending up being late. Ironically, I woke up late today and left later than I ever have for work. I tried to stay positive and thought I might still be able to make it, but by the time I departed the first metro station, I wasn’t so sure I would and felt I would probably be late. This was really frustrating, not to mention disappointing. Most times, I have to stand for almost the entire trip and funnily, I was sitting for most of it this time. I thought to myself, I would rather be standing and be on time. Fortunately, I made it just in time, and was so grateful.

When I started working again, I had to get back into a routine and I knew I should get to bed earlier. I didn’t want to make the jump too sudden or large, so I started off saying to myself that I just wanted to be in bed before midnight. It didn’t take long for me to be more disciplined and get to bed earlier. I knew I had to just to have enough energy to start and get through the day, and to prevent waking up late. When I get to bed later, my body tends to compensate by oversleeping. I even gave up my nightly Seinfeld reruns. :) I feel I am making the effort, and maybe it is paying off. Yesterday I got to bed later and tonight I’m determined to make it an earlier night. I have been trying to aim for 11 or so to get close to 7 hours of sleep, and have been trying to get my things together at night to be better prepared.

Soon I will be sleeping in a new bed, which will be nice. But I’m worried about it being too comfortable and causing me to oversleep!

It is still only the beginning of my new job, but I feel good that I have been successful with this goal so far. I think I will only mark this as done when I have completed one full month of being on time. I hope I can keep it up!