Never be late again!
Published Wednesday August 27th, 2008
Get rid of your chronic lateness by learning how to tell time again
Manon St-Germain doesn't like waiting, especially when it's for people who are always running late. Worst than waiting, she also doesn't like being made late by tardy friends or family members.
"I make it a point to be at a place on time and I keep my schedule pretty to the minute," she says. "When I have to wait for somebody, it screws up my schedule."
The nutritionist from Campbellton is a stickler for punctuality and most of the people in her life know that being late is frowned upon. It doesn't happen that often, but when Manon is made late by somebody else's actions, she puts it out there that she's not too pleased.
"I sigh a lot," she says with a laugh.
Diane DeLonzor, on the other hand, has battled with "chronic" tardiness most of her life.
"I had been chronically late all my life and it was something that had really bothered me," says Diane, author of 'Never Be Late Again, 7 Cures for the Punctually Challenged.'
"No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get anywhere on time."
Before writing her self-help book, Diane was constantly late for work, friends' get-togethers and family functions.
"I think people were often upset with me for coming late, I was reprimanded at work, and it was always a source of friction with my husband because he was chronically punctual."
As a new year's resolution, Diane decided to put an end to her chronic lateness, which had not only become an inconvenience to herself but a threat to her job and social life. Her husband suggested she just wake up a few hours earlier each morning to make up for any extra time she may have needed.
"Suddenly I realized that I could get up at 6 a.m. and still be late for work three hours later," she says. "It's the first time I really realized there was something behind all that."
After a search to find self-help books to stop tardiness came up short, she made a decision to do some research of her own and compile it together. The more she learned, the more enlightened she came about her own situation and the situations of millions like her.
"Most people think they just need to get their act together or get up earlier," she says, adding the problem is actually much more complex. She says the chronically late need to sit down and devise a plan to look at how they can change their behaviour.
Diane says there's a perception out there that the chronically late can simply control their behaviour at the snap of a finger. She compares this perception to telling a dieter to simply stop eating so much food. Diane says there's another perception out there that late people only care about their own time and don't value other people's time or feelings. However, the author disagrees with such a conclusion.
"It doesn't have to do with the people outside of them, it has to do internally," she says. "They have difficulty managing their time regardless of where they're going.
"Late people tend to be late across the board, it doesn't matter if it's something they really want to get to or if it's something they don't want to get to."
While Diane believes the chronically late aren't doing it on purpose, she says they are responsible for their actions.
In her book, she says their are seven categories of late people which include: the deadliner (somebody who actually enjoys the thrill of getting things done in a last minute rush), the producer (somebody who likes to get as much done in as little time as possible), the rationalizer (somebody who has a problem admitting their lateness problem and then insists that it's only sporadic), the indulger (somebody who has difficulty with self-motivation in general), the rebel (somebody who views tardiness as rebellion and gets a thrill out of it), the absent-minded professor (somebody who is easily distracted) and the evader (somebody who thinks if they make their surroundings perfect they will feel less anxious, only working in the short run to solve their lateness problem).
"Typically people would fall into two or three categories," says Diane, explaining she definitely can relate to the 'deadliner' classification.
"For me it was the adrenaline rush, I was definitely a thrill seeker," she says. "It wasn't a pleasant adrenaline."
"I was never one of those people who walked calmly down the street."
Since writing the book, Diane says she has received feedback from people who have used some of the books tips to help them with their own chronic lateness, including a man from Texas who had caused three serious car accidents, twice sending other people to the hospital.
"It was because he was running late, driving too fast and not yielding because he was trying to get somewhere on time," she says. "Even though it seems like a small problem, I think it causes a lot of havoc in people's lives and the lives of people around them."
Correcting the problem can be as unorthodox as learning to tell time again and reevaluating how long it actually takes to complete tasks.
As for Diane's own chronic lateness, it's now a thing of the past -- and the change has had a positive effect in her own life.
"When I walk into work, I don't feel that hectic rush," she says. "Now I don't have to apologize every time I meet someone and that's nice."
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