Do you want to learn how to arrive on time to your meetings and appointments? 

Are you interested in getting to where you need to be…with a few minutes to space? 

Arriving on time takes a bit of practice and patience. The more you practice, the better you’ll get!

In this post, I offer some pointers to help you arrive on time to any appointment.

No matter how long you’ve struggled with managing your time in past, arriving on time to future appointments is most certainly within your reach.

It’s all about changing your habits and actions.

With careful, thoughtful, and conscious preparations, you can arrive on time.

Imagine what it would be like to arrive with plenty of time to spare at work, weekend meetups with friends, or your favorite gym class…

This collection of tips will aid you in your quest to arrive on time to meetings and appointments…for good!

Prepare appointment materials in advance.

Do you rush around your home or office at the last-minute before leaving for an appointment?

Do you spend lots of time searching for your keys, wallet, and any other personal or professional materials?

If so, you’ll want to get in the habit of preparing items well in advance.

There’s two good reasons for doing so. For starters, your mind will be calmer and more focused while you pack.

You won’t be plagued with nagging thoughts like, “I have to leave in two minutes!” or “Where did I put that cell phone charger!”

Secondly, packing your belongings in advance gives you a bit of a reprieve should you accidentally forget or misplace something during your initial packing.

When should you prepare materials for an upcoming appointment?

You can pack up items at the beginning of your day, the day before your appointment, or even thirty minutes before your departure. Feel free to experiment with different packing timings for each of your appointments and meetings.

Keep in mind, the timing for your preparations will vary from appointment to appointment. It all depends on the amount of materials you need to pack, as well as how quickly you work.

When in doubt, you’ll want to begin your packing efforts sooner rather than later.

Set a “leave by” time in your calendar.

If you want to ensure you’ll leave on time for an appointment, you’ll certainly want to pencil in a “leave by” time in your schedule or calendar.

This “leave by” time is a specific time by which you must leave your present location for your next appointment.

Schedule your appointment “leave by” time well in advance, preferably, when initially scheduling your appointment.

This way, it will be a fixed point in your calendar.

The last thing you want to be saddled with is a “leave by” time that constantly changes or keeps getting pushed back.

Remember, the aim of the game here is to leave on time!

Create specific storage locations for your house and car keys. 

Consider setting up permanent storage locations in your home and/or office for common personal items.

Doing so will make it easy to store and keep track of items. You can create specific storage locations for personal items such as your house keys, car keys, wallet, and cell phone.

No fancy organizational tools are required: you can store items in a decorative dish, basket, or tray, on a table in your hall.

Another idea is to store items on your kitchen counter or in a small bin or container in a locked office filing cabinet.

Make sure you place personal belongings in this dedicated storage area whenever you arrive and be sure to collect your belongings when you depart.

Know the exact location of your appointment.

You’re on your way to your appointment, but do you know exactly where you’re going? That is, do you know the specific city, street, room, building, room, or suite of your meeting?

You should always confirm the exact location of your appointment in advance.

What’s the reason for this? Well, once you start traveling, all bets are off.

You may accidentally take the wrong train, route, or elevator. All of these tiny setbacks can quickly add up and can contribute to a late arrival.

That being said, it’s worth doing a little bit of research before you depart. Review your meeting invitation, telephone your contact, do some online research, or consult a map.

Avoid overlapping your appointments.

Each of your meetings should be treated with the attention and respect they deserve.

Do your best to avoid overlapping appointments and meetings. Doing so will only cause more headache and drama than necessary.

If you absolutely cannot commit to the full amount of time proposed for a meeting or appointment, you may need to rethink your scheduling approach.

Where could you possibly shorten or reschedule an appointment? Could you hold a conference or video call instead of meeting in person?

Give yourself more time.

Unsure as to how it will take you to travel from Point A to Point B?

Do yourself a huge favor and give yourself more time to make the trip. At the very least, you’ll have some extra time at your disposal should you arrive early to your destination.

Even if you’re feeling overly optimistic about your travel time, it can’t hurt to add a few more minutes to your estimate.

It’s far better to arrive early to your destination, than to arrive late.

How about you? What do you find to be the most challenging aspect to arriving on time for an appointment? Join the conversation and leave a comment below!