Some of us can never seem to be on time. We have every good intention, but at the last minute we manage to think of one more things we need to do, or something important comes up. After awhile, being late does become a habit, and one that isn’t easy to break.

A lot of people who are habitually late are multi-taskers, or easily distracted. They have a million things to do, and if one of these chores takes longer than usual, it throws off their entire schedule.

First, when you know that you have to be somewhere at a specific time, consider how long it will take you to get there and add at least a half hour. This allows for traffic, trains, and slow moving vehicles. It also gives you enough time so that you don’t have to break any speed laws along the way. Getting pulled over will definitely put a hold on your day, and affect your budget as well as your time schedule.

Don’t schedule too much on one day. Racing between appointments or trying to accomplish too much at home only leaves you feeling drained and irritated. Worse yet, rushing around leaves you open to making mistakes and not accomplishing anything to the best of your ability. Plan appointments, visits or shopping for the day in close proximity to each other to eliminate the need to rush across town. Consolidating destinations for the day saves gas and time.

If you are one of those people who are always hitting the snooze button, set your alarm an hour earlier than it needs to be. This may seem like a drastic measure, but hopefully the first alarm will wake you up sufficiently to get you going right on time. With a little practice, you might just become so used to the new schedule that you will wake up automatically at the earlier hour, giving you even more leeway.

Prioritize your day. If you have an important appointment, meeting, or even social event, leave the vacuuming until later. Put the most important events in your day at the top of your list, and make it a point to get there early. If you know that there are chores that you need to do before leaving the house, try and get these over with the night before, leaving you plenty of time in the morning to get yourself prepared for what you need to do.

Once you get accustomed to being early instead of late, it will become a new habit, and one that will reduce a lot of stress in your day.