1. One of your most frequent frustrations in life is how you always seem to be late, despite the fact that you clearly left on time.
2. You find that when getting ready to head out somewhere, despite repeatedly thinking, “I’ve got loads of time,” you still end up being late and it just doesn’t seem to make sense.
3. In fact, your friends often consider you "the late one", which is unfair because it’s usually just a result of circumstances beyond your control.
4. But actually, it’s entirely possible the real reason you’re so late is your unfailing optimism that everything WILL go right this time. It's called being a Time Optimist.
5. So even though you know that the bus actually does get stuck in traffic, and there are delays, you're still confident that you'll be on time, no matter how late you leave it.
6. Because despite all the potential issues, you’ll still be convinced that you know exactly how long your journey will take you.
7. It can often lead to an over-reliance on mapping apps: If Google Maps says it’ll take 23 minutes, it’ll take 23 minutes, right?
8. Sometime you'll even be so certain you can make the journey quicker, you'll end up leaving even later than your computer or your phone says.
9. So even when you wake up, and you’re up far earlier than you need to be, you’ll still somehow be late for work.
10. Because instead of leaving with plenty of time, you’ll always find something else to do, something to occupy your time until the absolute last minute.
11. And then, when your unfailing optimism that your journey will definitely take the exact amount of time you expected turns out to be misplaced, you’re late.
12. When you’re heading out in the evening, everyone will already have got drinks when you get there, because you were convinced you would be able to walk extra fast and make up the time.
13. That’s not to say it doesn’t often work out: Generally you can leave at the absolute last minute and you’ll be there on time.
14. But when you are late and your friends roll their eyes, it can feel a little unfair since if everything had worked out as it should, you would have been there on time.
15. The issue can move into other parts of your life as well, as your optimistic expectations mean that you can’t always finish everything you wanted to.
16. For example, you can often find yourself happily taking on many many projects, completely confident you’ll be able to fit them all in.
17. But then you discover that not everything runs as well as you’d hoped, and you don’t quite get everything you wanted to get done by the deadline.
18. Your basic optimism means you’ll always be certain that you’ll be able to do many things simultaneously without struggling, but in reality, sometimes you will.
19. Hell, even if you’re having a meal you’ll be tempted by a starter, and a main, and dessert. And a side. And a second side. And some bread. But you probably won’t finish it all. Because it's too much.
20. But this positive thinking has its advantages as well. Always trying to take on too much is undoubtedly better than avoiding work because it might be too hard – and means you’ll get more of it done regardless.
21. And of course being optimistic generally makes it easier to be happy – even through the annoyance of being late occasionally.
So maybe you are, in fact, a Time Optimist.
