The Last One To The Party

It was THE best.

I threw open the doors to see my entire second-grade class running around, high on milkshakes, and snorting french fries.

Swirly slides, jumping pit, and a table full of gifts stacked three feet high.

It was the be-all-end-all soiree, none other than the once-in-a-childhood McDonald’s birthday bash. 

Before you judge, back then there were no sugar-limits or veggie options. (Not to mention seatbelts or non-smoking sections)…but I digress.

It was my 8th birthday party.

And I was the last one to arrive.

I don’t even remember being upset. I was used to it.

20 minutes late to the first day of kindergarten? Check!

15 minutes late to the half-hour parent/teacher conference? Double-check!

You see, when it came to being on time, I had two things working against me.

#1: IST. (Indian Standard Time). 
It’s a time-zone like, PST, MST, CST, EST, and…IST.  It’s anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours behind whatever time zone you’re currently in. (Believe me, it’s a thing).

#2: My mom.
Mom, since you’re probably reading this, (btw, thanks for always supporting me!) – you know I love you to the moon. 

Buuuuutt…you also know you haven’t been on time for anything since well…the time we forgot to set the clocks ahead. And even then you were 10 minutes late.

So needless to say I grew up pretty much late for everything. 

Which is ironic that I do what I do today.

Or maybe that’s exactly why I do what I do today??

Either way, I’m living proof that you can go from being a “late person” to an “almost on-time person.” 

Or dare I say it: an “early person.”

It all comes down to planning. 

But here’s the thing.

Everyone plans.

Even my fellow IST friends. Even my mom. Even my teen who KNOWS school starts at 8am and rolls out of bed at 7:53am. 

Everyone.

In fact, imagine you have a Dr’s appointment at 9am. You also have to get the kids up and ready, get yourself dressed, and eat breakfast.  

You plan backward sort of, thinking in your mind, I need about two hours to get that all done.

So you wake up at 7am and yet are still frantically running into the Dr’s office at 9:12am vomiting excuses about traffic, unexpected calls, and difficult children.  

Does this sound disturbingly familiar?

What gives?

Why does planning work so well for some people and not so much so for others?

Because you’ve made one or more of these THREE planning faux pas:

But what about driving and parking time?

What about the ten minutes you’ll spend checking your email?

When did you account for blow-drying your hair or getting in your stretches?

Yes, you can think about some of the steps. 

But planning ALL of the steps is what keeps you out of chaos. 

#2: You underestimate the time.

You think you’ll spend just two minutes scanning your email when in reality it’s closer to 8-10 getting sucked into that sale promo.

Sure you can dress in 15 (when you were in high school!) but now since coordination is a thing for you, it’s more like 28 minutes start to finish.

Yeah, I’d love it if there were no rubbernecking, coffee spilling down my shirt as I’m reversing out the driveway, or meltdowns at home about why it’s not okay to spit in the kitchen sink but…

I’d also love a private organic chef and clothes that fold themselves.

Yes, you can tell yourself that everything will go exactly according to plan, down to the last minute, with no room for error, but how’s that been working out for ya?

The truth is, every plan is better with buffer.

So where do YOU go wrong in planning?

Let me know in the comments below.

I promise you with the right planning you can be on time, all of the time. Okay, maybe most of the time.

Sending you lots of love and planning mojo,

Xo,