We all struggle with being late. It was something I always said as a child that I would never be. It was the one thing I hated more than anything else. The thing that made me self-conscience walking into church 10 minutes late, walking into school and having my mom sign the tardy slip because we were late. It was never my fault and I always scorned my mother for it. But now here I am today as a college student and I’m ALWAYS late. The one thing I said I would never be has come to haunt me. Until a few months ago that is! I learned the very secret that will change your late habits!
As college students we always want that extra 5, 10, 15
minutes of extra sleep. We always say “ahh,
it doesn't really matter if I show up anyway” as we roll back over in deep satisfaction. And we have horrible planning skills, I mean
we literally wake up 20 minutes before class and expect to make it there. But let’s be real and acknowledge we’re
wrong. We find ourselves speeding (if
you live off campus) or jogging to class breaking through those early AM
classes 10 minutes late and it’s NOT okay.
So here’s what to do:
Plan better. So your class starts at 8 and it takes you 6
minutes to walk there. Let’s go ahead
and say it will take you 10 minutes to walk from your dorm to your class. Now let’s accommodate for how long it take
you to get ready. Say 30 minutes if you’re going to wake up, brush your teeth
(I hope so), wash your hair, maybe put on some eye liner and powder, dress in
comfortable clothes, and then eat a little breakfast. That makes 40 minutes total that you
need. Now let’s add an extra 10 minutes
to all of that just in case you want to check your social accounts while eating
breakfast. That’s 50 minutes. This means
you need to be up by 7:10.
Set your alarm 20
minutes early. I know it seems like a lot but it really does wonders. When I hear the alarm in the morning the
first thing I think is “I want more time!”
So I hit the snooze, the next time it goes off (8 minutes later) I want
more time of course but I also start feeling bad about not getting up. So at this point I shake it off and get out
of the bed to start my day. If you’re
extremely hard at waking up then set it back 30 minutes early.
Set multiple alarms. Sometimes we get into such a deep sleep
we don’t even remember hitting the off button.
Then when it’s too late we wake up panicking. Setting multiple alarms will increase your
chance of making it on time. Try setting
the alarms 6 minutes apart, that way your body can be waking up to hit snooze
or turn the alarm off the second time.
Be prepared. Set out all of your needs for the next
day the night before. This helps so much
it’s absolutely amazing! If all you have
to do is pick up the clothes you’re going to wear and put them on and then grab
your back-pack then we have an incredibly simple and easy morning to attend to. This cuts back so much time. Think about those last minute things you
would have to do just to throw some books into your back pack and all the time
you didn't waste on trying to decide what to wear.
Outline of your morning: So we have established you need to
wake up by 7:10 AM. That means your alarm needs to be set at 6:50 AM and
another alarm set for just in case at 6:56 AM.
Now you’re up at 7:10 and you begin getting ready. Dressing is easy since you only have to pick
up the clothes draped over your chair.
Then you go eat breakfast in your dorm or if you’re eating in the campus
diner you grab your ready-to-go back pack and you’re on your way. By the time you get to class you have 5
minutes to spare and can set up your notebook or laptop for class.
Time is so essential and we need to start treating it like
it is now before we get into our big job.
Being late to something can shadow your whole day and there’s really
nothing worse than feeling like you’re late for everything during the day. Start your day right and make it the perfect
day every day!
As always just for you,
M.