Albert Alcaine“I’ll be 10 minutes”, “I’m getting there”… I’m sure you’ve heard these phrases more than once… Or maybe it’s you who has uttered them. There are people who always repeat this pattern, arriving late, no matter what the plan is. Is it disrespectful? Let’s have a look…
Unpunctuality has a lot to do with time management, and time management depends on many factors.
Physiologically, there are “morning” and “evening” people: it has been found that “evening” people tend to be more unpunctual than “morning” people because they have lower levels of cortisol in the morning, the hormone that activates us.
On the other hand, in the psychological field, there is a vast range of variables, from personality traits, attitudinal factors, motivational factors, factors related to personal abilities, etc…. This means that it is not easy to attribute it to a single factor. The easiest way would be to put it down to inadequate time management, but motivation is probably the key factor in this case.
The sketch of an unpunctual person usually corresponds to a person who is overly optimistic about their ability to make the most of their time, absent-minded, often with some kind of obsession or compulsion that detracts from their energy and useful time, sometimes people with little respect for social norms or conventions, or even those who want to be punctual but are prevented from being so for other reasons.
The Big Five personality model can provide clues to some of the traits related to punctuality.
People with high responsibility and agreeableness tend to be less unpunctual, while people with high neuroticism tend to arrive even earlier.
People perceive time differently, and this has been studied, for example, by comparing across countries or cultures. We find time monochronic (when it is considered as something tangible, linear, controllable and divisible, as when it can be equivalent to money and cannot be wasted or squandered, more typical of Western cultures) and polychronic time (when although it is also important, it is more intangible, as it underlies all our personal experiences, as something to enjoy and savour, more experienced in Latin cultures).
We can be on time when it matters to us, and that means it matters to us when there are consequences for us for being late .
Obviously, some people are unpunctual because they have learned to be late because their parents were always late, because of lack of attention or even because they have a narcissistic personality who is systematically late because they think they can afford to be. Others are late to attract attention or to avoid having to start conversations with those who are arriving.
Emily Waldum makes a curious point: environmental factors – such as music – can distort the sense of time .
If you are an unpunctual person you are in luck: Grace Pacie is the author of a guide and former unpunctual , the result of her research, in which she offers tools and methods to stop being late everywhere.
Time can speed up or slow down: we can get totally lost in something and lose track of time altogether. On the other hand, if we have a goal, we can work effectively. The objective number of elements, subjective affection and heart rate, can influence the experience of time.
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Unpunctual people simply assume that it is so intrinsic to their genes and traits that they don’t even make the attempt to correct the behaviour . This is how the narratives we have of ourselves can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The idea that personality traits are not permanent – or marked from birth – but can be moulded, is one of the most exciting developments in psychology today. Through simple changes, we can become more conscious people.
Do you consider yourself an unpunctual person, and how do you experience other people being unpunctual?
📎 Alcaine, A. [Albert]. (2024, 01 September). I’m late!. PsicoPop. https://www.psicopop.top/en/i-am-late/
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