Stop That!

You text your friend: ‘Leaving now!’ But really, you’re still in bed. Yep, you’re the person who’s always running behind. Rehab your rep with these tips.

- Judith Ohikaure

In a n a 2014 YouGov poll, 22 per cent of millennials admitted to being late to work at least once a week. One of their top reasons was ‘I don’t get penalised.’ That’s not entirely true. Lateness can breed resentment in all your relationships and ever-simmering anxiety in you. ‘One of the most predominant issues people have with time is that they constantly lie about it,’ says Lauren Handel Zander, author of Maybe It’s You and chairwoman of the Handel Group, an executive- and life-coaching company. We spend too much energy coming up with fibs to justify our lateness. Time to get real about how your traits, moods and attitudes might be setting you back.

1 The Wild Procrastinator

‘I’M BETTER UNDER PRESSURE!’

We’re all guilty of a little procrastination, but not every single person is a diehard procrastinator. Joseph Ferrari, a professor of psychology at DePaul University and author of Still Procrastinating?, notes that when you’re postponing, waiting or just delaying, you’re often still gathering information in order to best achieve your goal (read: still being somewhat productive). Procrastination, on the other hand, is actively avoiding making any decision, putting you at an absolute standstill until the very last minute,often causing you to be late. Yes, you get everything done eventually, but in the meantime, your stress levels, and chance for error, skyrocket.