There are three kinds of people. Those who are always early. Those who are always on time. And those who are always late. Then there is me. I float between all three.
I recognize that there are times when being late is just too expensive—when meeting airplanes, at the pediatrician, interviews, when I am the keynote speaker. Those are times when I tend to be early. Sometimes I am so early that it is laughable. I know that’s not a good use of my time, but I am terrified that my bad habits will derail my productivity. So, I overcompensate.
In the interest of full disclosure I am late a lot for most other things. Too much. If I’m not careful it has the potential to be my Shakespearean fatal flaw. I get that. So I try really hard to be on time. I really make a concerted effort. Sometimes though life intervenes. I won’t write too much about “life” though. You all know it. You’re deep in it up to your eyeballs. For moms “Life” shows up as traffic, dirty diapers, crying babies, stockings with runs in them. For guys it may be a pile of dirty underwear that you meant to wash and now you’re forced to wear basketball shorts or go commando, the dilemma of a failed alarm, a meeting in 30 minutes and a five o’clock shadow, or you just want to do one more thing before you leave work and that thing absorbed you for an hour and you were supposed to be at a dinner reservation 10 minutes ago.
I used to think that I was special, but now I know that I am just living like everyone else and have to figure out how to manage all of my demands and make it on time. It remains a struggle though. It was a struggle before I had my baby. Now that I have become a mom, and a working mom, the struggle is more intense. Let's be real. Having children is an enormous blessing that keeps on giving, but being a parent is a time sucker and an exercise in creative scheduling!
I recognize that there are times when being late is just too expensive—when meeting airplanes, at the pediatrician, interviews, when I am the keynote speaker. Those are times when I tend to be early. Sometimes I am so early that it is laughable. I know that’s not a good use of my time, but I am terrified that my bad habits will derail my productivity. So, I overcompensate.
In the interest of full disclosure I am late a lot for most other things. Too much. If I’m not careful it has the potential to be my Shakespearean fatal flaw. I get that. So I try really hard to be on time. I really make a concerted effort. Sometimes though life intervenes. I won’t write too much about “life” though. You all know it. You’re deep in it up to your eyeballs. For moms “Life” shows up as traffic, dirty diapers, crying babies, stockings with runs in them. For guys it may be a pile of dirty underwear that you meant to wash and now you’re forced to wear basketball shorts or go commando, the dilemma of a failed alarm, a meeting in 30 minutes and a five o’clock shadow, or you just want to do one more thing before you leave work and that thing absorbed you for an hour and you were supposed to be at a dinner reservation 10 minutes ago.
I used to think that I was special, but now I know that I am just living like everyone else and have to figure out how to manage all of my demands and make it on time. It remains a struggle though. It was a struggle before I had my baby. Now that I have become a mom, and a working mom, the struggle is more intense. Let's be real. Having children is an enormous blessing that keeps on giving, but being a parent is a time sucker and an exercise in creative scheduling!
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