Sensible time management is only possible by prioritising your daily schedule. Organising your time so that you are never late anywhere can be learnt, practised and made part of your daily routine. If you prioritise your time, being on time will come naturally.


For many people, it seems impossible not to be late, not because they have a lack of time, but because they manage their available time poorly. People who are regularly late learn to deal with this and bear the consequences, because the brain adapts easily to repetitive events but resists change vehemently. Changing time management and behavioural habits to this end requires effort and energy.

Society is divided into three behavioural groups: One group consists of the over-punctual, who leave home so early to prevent any fictitious incidents along the way that they quite often arrive hours early The second group are the punctual, who have learnt to manage their time optimally and are 99% punctual. As in most cases there are no incidents on the way to their destination, they almost always manage to turn up exactly on time and are only late on the rare occasions when something unforeseen actually happens. Finally, there are the perpetual latecomers who are simply always 15 to 30 minutes late everywhere. They have learnt to deal with this and are so relaxed about being late that they usually just get away with it. So the person who leaves the house in a hurry every morning and runs all the way to the office wonders why their colleague consistently starts work 15 minutes late and nobody seems to care.

However, those who organise their time poorly still often find themselves in trouble, as they put off important tasks every day until they are overdue.
Now it's not just that poor time management causes short-term problems, but rather the fact that it can be contagious. The human brain is excellent at absorbing information and unfortunately not only learns good traits as a result, but also adopts bad habits from others if they get a positive result from it. The colleagues in the office who are quietly annoyed that an employee works an hour less than them each week without being penalised for being late will in future try to get that extra time too. Suddenly, almost all employees are late and production suffers.

The brain gets used to habits so easily that you end up not even thinking about the bad influence your own behaviour has on others. Instead, it is always the fault of others or "force majeure" that causes lateness.
Poor time management is often a problem of prioritisation. Things that are really important need to be at the top of the to-do list so that they can be completed first. Tasks that allow a few more days must be put at the back of the list until their urgency increases and they become top priority.

If you want to improve your time management in order to optimise your time for family, work and leisure, you should ask yourself the following questions:

1) What do I do with my time? This question helps you to assess how you organise your time. Do you belong to the group that generally postpones tasks and then at some point no longer has time to complete the tasks that have piled up or are our days really so full of urgent tasks that we are setting the wrong priorities?
2) Why do I spend my time like this? This question helps you to understand and evaluate yourself. You can find out whether you are satisfied with your lifestyle or whether you are a victim of misguided time management that has not yet been questioned.
3) How can I escape this chain reaction and learn to organise my time better? This important question triggers the start of problem solving. The brain begins to search for answers and you automatically become better organised as a result. The brain learns to organise time wisely and prioritise, which leads to a more stress-free and fulfilling lifestyle.