{"id":19445,"date":"2014-03-12T08:54:09","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T12:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=19445"},"modified":"2014-03-12T08:54:09","modified_gmt":"2014-03-12T12:54:09","slug":"tardy-to-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2014\/03\/12\/tardy-to-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"Tardy to the Party (and everything else, too)"},"content":{"rendered":"Months back, I wrote on the topic of perfectionism<\/a> as a personality flaw and how it would be a painstakingly annoying (although undeniably accurate) answer to give at a job interview when given the prototypical \"What is your greatest weakness?\" prompt. I wasn't being entirely honest. So here I am, about to expose one of my (debatably) biggest flaws that I definitely would not share in any given job interview that I actually wanted to get hired for (although the title of this post is kind of a dead giveaway)...\r\n\r\nI am a very<\/em> tardy person.<\/strong>\r\n\r\n
\"rabbit\"<\/a>
Literally me, to about 86% of my daily obligations.<\/em> (PC: tumblr.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nIn fact, the last few times I wasn't late for something, it either involved free food<\/strong> (I'm not about to let that run out on me!), or was a work-related event<\/strong> (a job interview, a meeting, etc). Anything else - classes, a meet-up with friends, a date (yup), a SURPRISE PARTY (#WORST) - my ETA ranges from anywhere in between five minutes to three\u00a0hours<\/em>. The reasons vary. The unreliability of the TTC. Pressing the snooze button one (or seven...) too many times. Getting caught up with a Skype call from home. Yes, all excuses, all valid to a certain extent, but at a certain point I had to come to the realization that mishaps and setbacks are always bound to come up, and so maybe I should just start doing\/leaving for things ahead of time.\r\n\r\n
\"\"<\/a>
At a certain point, we gotta accept that we are not royalty\/Julie Andrews and therefore this is not applicable.<\/em> (PC: myfairjulie.tumblr.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nBut I do understand how desperately annoying it is to feel like your time is wasted, or the awkward moments where you feel as though you've been stood up or forgotten about - I've been on the receiving end of tardiness too. The main problem I encounter with being able to be on-time is grossly overestimating the amount of time I had before I had to be somewhere or do something<\/strong> (sound familiar to anyone?). I was consistently an hour and fifteen minutes late to my two-hour 9AM lectures four weeks in a row. I made my friend late for another appointment they had later in the day. I risked not being considered for a job position because I turned in my application half an hour past its hard deadline.\u00a0As a student, running the habit of being late is a very easy, very dangerous trap to fall into for the future when \"I was finishing off a term paper due that afternoon\" is no longer a socially acceptable excuse for lateness in the workforce.\r\n\r\n
\"The-Notebook-Now-Its-Too-Late-GIF\"<\/a>
What's the worse that could happen when you're late to something? Missing out on spending 7 whole years with the love of your life doesn't sound too great, if I'm being entirely honest.<\/em> (PC: tumblr.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nWith that (and the unsettling fear of impending unemployment) in mind, I set out to change a stubborn, long-lived habit of mine. Here are some of the goals I've started to set, that perhaps you'll find useful too -\r\n