By Ingrid ChuI am a person who gets up at six o’clock every morning but is still tardy for morning classes. Hence I try to sneak into the classroom, or else I might be glared at by the professor. Whenever there is an appointment, I tend to arrive from five minutes to half an hour late and need to apologize for my tardiness constantly. Most of the time, I find it hard to hand in assignments on time, not because that I do not care about them, but because I just don’t have enough time to work on them. Eventually I hand them in with bad quality, and my scores are low.
Unpunctuality has plagued us throughout our lives. Are you also a late person like I am, and feel frustrated or guilty whenever you are late? Have you wondered what is wrong with you? Are you looking for ways to improve yourself? Well, researchers have found several possible answers for us. Maybe it means you are a creative person! A theory proposed by cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman divided humans into two categories: Type A and Type B. Type A people refers to those who are more competitive, outgoing, ambitious, or aggressive, while Type B people are those with more relaxed personalities, being more optimistic, creative, and having more imagination. Type B people are more unpunctual, according to research carried out by Jeff Conte and Jerald Greenberg of San Diego State University. Their research revealed that these two types of people measure time in a different way. Participants were made to guess how long they thought a minute was. The results turned out to be that Type A calculated a minute as lasting 58 seconds, while Type B thought it lasted 77 seconds. This indicates that unpunctuality results from underestimating the duration of tasks. This type of people may naively assume that they can accomplish three essays in one night. So, you like multitasking? In other research, Professor Conte also found out that people who prefer multitasking were more often late in their tasks. This is because there are too many things going on in their mind, causing distraction. Therefore, they could pay less attention to what they are currently engaged in. Research done by David Sanbonmatsu and David Strayer from the University of Utah has also indicated that multitaskers, in fact, are the ones who are the least productive. They discovered that people who score high on tests tend not to multitask and focus on one thing at a time. They are the ones who use time effectively. So should we listen to music when we are doing homework again? You simply tend to bite off your nose to spite your face. Tardiness has been regarded a rude act. Yet Diana DeLonzor, the author of Never Be Late Again, has found that “the vast majority of late people really dislike being late.” Chronic tardiness is the result of one’s psychological health and the state of their brain. Those who are equipped with low self-esteem or are in a low mood have less motivation for tasks. It’s hard for them to feel concentrated or motivated to engage in difficult jobs, for they will feel weary merely by thinking about them. How to overcome chronic lateness? Though the reasons for lateness vary from person to person, it is a vital issue as has large impact on productivity. Researchers have provided the following methods to help us: 1. Picture a task before doing it Try to break down a task into very detailed components to help yourself accurately estimate its duration. 2. Try to plan fewer things Remember that multitaskers could be least capable of multitasking. Focusing on certain jobs achieves better performance 3. Try to trace down how long certain tasks take you You can build this into your planning. You may also be quite shocked that certain tasks are taking you so long. 4. Always add 15 minutes on to how long it normally takes you and plan accordingly 5. Remind yourself about how tardiness has cost you lost opportunities in the past 6. Get rid of your mobile phone, Facebook, or any other factor that may distract you References: http://www.mirror.co.uk/science/people-always-late–might-10157838 http://www.cw.com.tw/article/article.action?id=5081088 http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/researchers-tell-the-reason-why-some-people-are-always-late.html http://uk.businessinsider.com/monotasking-better-than-multitasking-2017-3 a
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May 2024
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