关于迟到

On Being Late

> By Li Xiaolai · 2007-03-24 · [Original (web archive)](https://web.archive.org/web/20111113123904/http://www.lixiaolai.com/archives/45.html) (Chinese)
> Our translation from the Chinese original.

Being late by accident really is an especially embarrassing thing. Some people often arrive late on purpose, using this tedious method to show how important or confident they are, or whatever else. But when the lateness itself wasn't intended, besides embarrassment there are often many other losses: perhaps financial, perhaps to one's credibility, and also some potential losses that can't be seen at the time. So you really should find ways to avoid unintended lateness as far as possible; the benefits go without saying—everyone knows them.

1. Form the habit of living regularly

Living regularly will naturally make it relatively easier for you to be punctual. Living regularly doesn't mean you have to be as mechanical as soldiers in a barracks every year, every month, every day, every hour, every moment. If you can make some of the main events in your life regular, then your whole life will already be much more regular than that of the vast majority of people. In fact, the main events of everyone's day differ little: sleeping, eating, working, recreation; if you have a religious faith, you may also go to church for worship or something. Of these, fixing your sleeping time and keeping it regular is the most important. According to statistics, more than 65% of cases of lateness are caused by "oversleeping." For many people getting up early really is hard, but you should know that the habit of getting up early is actually relatively easy to form. Every morning, thinking over and settling the few most important things of the day is of great significance for getting the day's work done. And when one or two of them are important appointments, this is when you should settle the times and make the corresponding notes.

2. Check your schedule at least three times a day

Our brains are not reliable, and are always far less reliable than we imagine. To avoid forgetting, we write important appointments on paper or use other tools such as a PDA, but even so, you may even forget to look at those records and so completely forget some important event, and afterward not only regret it bitterly but also find it baffling. [Translator's note: the original writes 总要约会 ("always-must appointments"), a slip for 重要约会, "important appointments"; translated by the intended sense] The way to deal with this kind of embarrassment is to check your schedule at least three times a day, for example: once at 10 in the morning, once at 2 in the afternoon, and the last time at 10 in the evening. If you've already formed the habit of recording the important events you need to deal with in the future, and check those records at least three times a day, you'll slowly begin to feel how pitiable, ridiculous and unfortunate those people are who are always late and endlessly guilty about it.

3. Assume everything you do takes a little more time than you imagine.

It's said that completing any task actually takes more time than originally planned—even if the planner knows clearly from the start that this law exists. If you have a small discussion with a colleague at half past ten in the morning, and you think it can be done in half an hour, so you set an appointment with someone else at eleven o'clock, then you're dead wrong. Within the planned half hour, you'll usually find the problem can't be fully solved—the colleague was 15 minutes late, and you later also find that this colleague hadn't prepared in advance, so your planned discussion can only be abandoned halfway; and even more infuriating, during the conversation with you he took several phone calls and there was nothing you could do, because later you too took a call: the person for your next appointment said on the phone that he had already arrived, so you had no choice but to say, "OK, I'll be right……"

4. Assume you will always run into traffic jams.

In a modern city, avoiding traffic jams is harder than farting without a smell. Recall your last few experiences of being late and you'll understand why people, as soon as traffic jams are mentioned, more or less lose control, or come close to it. So if your plan involves travel time, be sure to estimate the travel time well. In any case, have some countermeasures. If you drive, you'd better have audio books (Audio books) in the car; if, like me, you always take a car or bus, bring a book you haven't finished yet—when you run into a jam, you can avoid wasting time, and at the same time, because it was anticipated in advance, there's no need at all to fly into a rage over it. [Translator's note: the original writes 实现已经预期过的 ("realized, already anticipated"), a slip for 事先已经预期过的, "anticipated in advance"; translated by the intended sense] Also, if your trip even includes flying, then you should know that flight delays are not only quite possible, but the more urgent things are for you, the more certain they are. Remember: the reason accidents always happen is definitely not that your luck is exceptionally bad, but usually just that you didn't think things through thoroughly enough.

5. Assume everyone else will be late

At the agreed time, other people arriving first usually won't create a situation that displeases you. But from experience, you'd better assume everyone else will be late. If you've arranged to meet more than one person, then you can be sure that at least one person will inevitably be very late—if you don't believe it, try it and see! So, as I recall, a friend of mine once greatly impressed me, and later I changed because of him. That time, when I apologized to him for being late, he said, "No problem, I figured you'd be late. So I looked up online in advance what there was around here, so I got here an hour ago but wasn't in a hurry, because there's an antique shop nearby, and I actually bought this!"—he showed me the antique watch he had just bought, smiling very brightly. [Translator's note: the original writes 都由什么 for 都有什么 ("what there was") and 卖到 ("sold") for 买到, "bought"; translated by the intended sense]

6. Try not to blame others for being late

Believe me, everyone is late sometimes. No one can go a whole lifetime without ever being late; if you've seen such a person, please tell me—but I don't think you can produce proof, because you've never watched anyone for a whole lifetime; if you've heard of such a person, I'll consider it just a legend. I just said that thinking things through thoroughly avoids accidents. If you've even taken into account the fact that others will inevitably be late, what need do you have to blame others? No one will change merely because you blame them—unless you are their leader or even control their fate, but if that were really the case, they'd die trying rather than be late. [Translator's note: the original writes 掌控者 ("controller"), a slip for 掌控着, "controlling"; translated by the intended sense] And no matter how good your self-control is, you'll still occasionally, magically, be late—don't you dare not believe me. So don't lightly mock people who are late—even if you feel it's very necessary.

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