OK … this week, for the most part, we’re simply reinforcing the previous habits.

That said, if you’d like, we’re going to practice being on time. (More on that below.)

But first … for anyone who’s been working on the Getting Organized habits … let’s do the work of reinforcing the habits we’ve been creating so far. Spend some time each morning and at the end of each workday doing the following:

  1. Review: Review your buckets, make sure things are where they belong. Check off things you’ve done, move things.
  2. Parse: Spend time taking things out of your inboxes (physical and digital) and putting them in the right place.
  3. Build awareness: As things come in, be aware of where they belong. If something doesn’t have a place, designate one.
  4. Continue to process digital & physical clutter: It’s highly probable that you haven’t gotten through all your clutter yet. That’s OK. Spend just a little time looking for piles and hidden corners, both physical and digital, that haven’t been processed yet, that don’t have homes yet.
  5. Continue to set up regular times: Each bucket should have a regular processing/review time. When do you look over your projects list? Your Waiting On list? Your Read Later list? Your mail? Your bills?

And with that, you have the start of some great organization habits!

Now let’s talk about being on time.

The Practice of Being on Time

Being on time isn’t something that comes naturally to me. And while I’m still not perfect at it, I’m far better now than I used to be. I continue to work on this practice.

I consider this to be an Integrity practice. Keeping your word to others. We often will take this lightly, and be late even when we committed to showing up at a certain time. And while we are not here to be judgmental of ourselves, it’s a powerful practice to commit to doing what you say you’re going to do. Including being on time.

If you resist this practice, what would it be like to really commit yourself here?

Here’s how to practice, if you’re up for this Integrity work:

  1. Commit to showing up at least 5 minutes before the scheduled time (10 minutes if it’s a physical meeting). So if you have a video or audio call, and you’re supposed to meet at 10am, be ready to go at 9:55am. Get on the video call room by then. If you have to be at an appointment at a certain time, show up to the place 10 minutes early. You can always answer messages and emails or read while you wait. This practice of being early helps you to not underestimate how long it takes to drive somewhere, or get ready.
  2. Time how long it actually takes you to get ready (and to drive somewhere). We often underestimate how long it takes to get ready, so we’ll start too late. If you have to shower, brush your teeth, groom yourself, get dressed, get your stuff together — it might take longer than you think. Time it. If you have to drive somewhere, many of us will look at our phone map and see that it takes 20 minutes, and leave with 19 minutes left! But then there’s traffic, more stoplights than expected, parking, and then walking into the building and to the actual office and room, which can all add 10-20 minutes. So start timing yourself, and learn the true time.
  3. Set a reminder to start getting ready on time, and to leave on time. If you know it takes you 45 minutes to get ready … set a reminder for 45 minutes before the video meeting, or 45 minutes before you have to leave. If you have to leave 30 minutes before the meeting, set a reminder to leave at the right time (40 minutes before the meeting, so you’ll be early).
  4. Notice when you’re putting off starting, and turn towards instead. Even if we know when we should start getting ready, and we know how long it actually takes … we see the reminder go off, or see what time it is … and then we put off starting. This is the “turning away from” tendency that we often have. Instead, turn towards. Get moving. It’s a practice of Integrity.
  5. Adjust & learn. Ideally, you keep a log of how you do, in a notes document. And see how it goes. Figure out where you’re going wrong. Adjust, and get better. See it as a learning process.

This isn’t an easy shift for a lot of people. How important is Integrity to you?