Lateness

I never mean to be late but it seems to take me ages to begin to leave - that old inertia issue, taking a slow and unfocussed but building run up- and while I try to allow a reasonable amount of time to get through that phase and still be on my way with a plausible window of time to make an appointment or catch-up, then a secondary issue can kick in - my terrible sense of direction. I’ve had to go on prior recces for crucial appointments just in case I somehow turn a straight line into an iterative approach spriral on the day. 

While my degree of lateness is generally minimal - in the five to fifteen minute range for the most part - it’s earned me some relentless teasing over the years from my two IRL friends who’ve stayed the course. I arrived at something before they did about two months ago and the mock astonishment was funny but also hurt a bit as I can see that even a lifetime of flawless counterbalancing will not erase the charicature that I am to them in this regard.

One of a number of good things about my job is that my start and finish times have a little flexibility built in, so I always do my full hours or even more than them if in the mood, but I can work from 10-6 or 9.45-5.45 etc. rather than the standard  9-5 and that helps me find a manageable pace to wake up and do all the morning rituals with the measured pacing I require. In my previous post it wasn’t possible and the stress and panic of rush hour on a day when I had to open up or attend a weekly catch-up meeting was horrible. Others in the office are real early birds rather than night owls like me, so some of them do an 8-4. I like having the darkening quiet of the office to myself (and one other person who sits in an inner office in the same space) once the main crowd has gone. I probably have my best focus all day in those moments. 

I never mean to be late but it seems to take me ages to begin to leave - that old inertia issue, taking a slow and unfocussed but building run up- and while I try to allow a reasonable amount of time to get through that phase and still be on my way with a plausible window of time to make an appointment or catch-up, then a secondary issue can kick in - my terrible sense of direction. I’ve had to go on prior recces for crucial appointments just in case I somehow turn a straight line into an iterative approach spriral on the day. 

While my degree of lateness is generally minimal - in the five to fifteen minute range for the most part - it’s earned me some relentless teasing over the years from my two IRL friends who’ve stayed the course. I arrived at something before they did about two months ago and the mock astonishment was funny but also hurt a bit as I can see that even a lifetime of flawless counterbalancing will not erase the charicature that I am to them in this regard.

One of a number of good things about my job is that my start and finish times have a little flexibility built in, so I always do my full hours or even more than them if in the mood, but I can work from 10-6 or 9.45-5.45 etc. rather than the standard  9-5 and that helps me find a manageable pace to wake up and do all the morning rituals with the measured pacing I require. In my previous post it wasn’t possible and the stress and panic of rush hour on a day when I had to open up or attend a weekly catch-up meeting was horrible. Others in the office are real early birds rather than night owls like me, so some of them do an 8-4. I like having the darkening quiet of the office to myself (and one other person who sits in an inner office in the same space) once the main crowd has gone. I probably have my best focus all day in those moments.