Late

I'm always late. Sometimes by 1 minute, sometimes by 20. And I wonder why.

I used to say this was a part of a philosophy of optimizing every moment, which hates the beginning part of anything where nothing really happens yet - this is time that can be better spent.

Then I was exposed to doing things thoroughly, until they're done, when you're in flow and motivated, no matter how long it takes. Doing things like this means not stopping at an arbitrary point in time for the next planned appointment.

Now I think it is more of a planning issue: a mix of misestimated task times, unclear task list and finding the balance between buffer time for unpredictability and having too much unused time.

Many people speach about being late as a sign of disrespect. I have never intended to disrespect someone though being late, nor do I feel disrespected if someone is late to meet me. I guess there is a power game out there of 'who waits for who'.

There is also an idea of calling an event for one time with the expectation people will show much later. Like a party that starts at 8pm. 

There is a also a phenomenon of calling one time for another like 730 for 8 which gives like a deadline to arrive by and a window of time when you can arrive with everything ready for you.

There is also a saying "early is on time and on time is late and late is unacceptable". Things like this seems to vary by culture too - I went to Swiss friends last night and was 'late' at a time I thought would still be the beginning.

I am working to be more on time as it seems to upset others and become disruptive. But I wonder what it will take from me.