People Who Are Always Late Are More Successful, Creative, And Live Longer, Says Science

Who is the first person you thought of when you read the title of this article? Your best friend? Mom? Coworker? If you’re anything like me, yourself 🤭I’m notoriously late, even just 5-10 minutes late, no matter how much I want to be on time I’m typically “the late person.” Believe me, I know how frustrating it can be when you’re stuck waiting for me, but many on time people don’t realize it’s just as frustrating for me that I’m late. I don’t want to be a bad timekeeper! We all know being late is frowned upon and being punctual is admired but this doesn’t seem to stop some of us from being chronically late.

“There are all sorts of disincentives and punishments for being late, and the paradox is we’re late even when those punishments and consequences exist,” Justin Kruger, a social psychologist at New York University’s School of Business told Reddy.

So why are some people chronically late? I’ve got some good news for you, scientists have found personality traits that are indicative of being late. Almost as a side of effect of their personality if you will. Surprisingly, many of these personality traits are associated with positive outcomes. Let’s start with the findings!

✅People who are late experience less stress

Have you ever rushed to get somewhere and felt that drowning stressful anxiety as you rush to get out of the door and frantically weave through traffic to get somewhere on time. People who are typically late have an inability to feel the same stress that pulls them to rush or rearrange what they are doing to be on time. Stress is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Therefore less stress has health benefits.

Tardy people are often Type B personalities – relaxed, laid-back, reflective, even-tempered, and stress levels are generally low. While their punctual counterparts are often Type A individuals- high-achievers, driven, carry a sense of urgency, competitive, and stress levels are usually high.

In the International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology cardiologists say that type A’s are more likely to develop coronary heart disease due to higher stress levels. Type B’s are less likely to develop heart disease because they are more relaxed and likely to have less stress in their life.

Tardy people usually don’t care if others are late therefore they assume others won’t mind if they are late. They seem to think of the bigger picture and realize that being slightly late usually won’t affect their life long term, but stress will. This can bleed into all aspects of their life meaning they usually are less stressed overall. Less stress can lead to a longer lifespan.

✅People who are late are often more optimistic

Most of us who often run late are known to be more optimistic and unrealistic which affects our perception of time. One of the simple explanations of tardiness is from planning fallacy – meaning, we overestimate how much time we have to complete the task(s) we need to complete to get somewhere on time. I know I will be sitting at my computer and think I can finish writing an article and have time to make coffee, eat breakfast, shower and get to an appointment in an hour…but before I know it I have 15 minutes until I’m supposed to be there.

Research has shown that people tend to underestimate how long a task will take to complete by a colossal 40%. This leads to excessive tardiness, but there seems to be a legitimate reason for this error in time judgment…

✅Type B’s (who also tend to be late) feel time pass differently

Jeff Conteo, an associate psychology professor at San Diego University conducted a study that took Type A (people who are competitive and impatient ) and Type B (people who are more relaxed). Both groups were asked to guess, after one minute, how much time had passed. The average of type A’s response was 58 seconds while Type B’s response was 77 seconds. This means type B people who are more relaxed ( and known to be late!) actually feel time passing slightly longer than it actually is.

“So if you have an 18 second gap… That difference can add up over time” – the Wall Street Journal reported as Conte Told Sumathi Reddy.

✅Being more optimistic is associated with success

A study by Metropolitan Life showed that salesmen who scored in the top 10 percent on the optimism scale sold 88% more than the 10% of salesman ranking lowest on the optimism scale.

People that are late are also more enthusiastic which has a positive outcome on success. Studies have shown that people who are disorganized and often late tend to be enthusiasts. Typically high-spirited, playful, and enthusiatic in everything they do. Though this doesn’t come with some drawbacks, ( being scattered, undisciplined, and thinking they can achieve more than they can in a given amount of time.) but being more enthusiastic is also associated with being extroverted, having high hopes for the future, living in the moment, and being positive overall which have all been associated with success. Having a more positive outlook on life, in general, leads to success or an individuals perception of success.

✅People who are late tend to be disorganized, which is surprisingly associated with positive traits

If you were in Type B of the above-mentioned studies you may be a bit more disorganized. Maybe you’re late because you can’t find your car keys, you put the wrong address in your navigation, or you got sidetracked working on a project.

Chronically late people tend to be multitaskers. Multitasking, or what is referred to as polychronicity is common among tardy people. A study from 2003 found that out of 181 subway operators in NYC, those who reported multitasking we’re late to their job more often. It’s estimated that the US loses approximatelt $90 billion a year due to people being late. When you multitask you don’t have as much awareness of what you’re doing, what’s referred to as metacognition. Therefore you’re more likely to lose track of time.

Disorganized people tend to be involved in many activities and hobbies. Even if they have a 9-5 job, typically they are also involved in a variety of activities from playing music, design, volunteering, to writing. Disorganized people tend to love new experiences and challenges and they find joy in creating. Often when a disorganized person is late it’s because they were engrossed in another activity. Surprisingly disorganized people can be perfectionists. If they are late finishing a project for work it’s sometimes because they become so obsessed with an aspect of the project that they spend more and more time researching and trying to find the best solution.

According to a study published on lifehack, chronic disorganization is associated with high scores in storytelling, humor, having a rich imagination, and thinking outside the box. Not so bad for us tardy folks!

When I’m meeting friends I’m always the girl in a towel with no makeup on when I should be in the car on my way there, and I’m not proud of this…because although now I have a better understanding of my poor timekeeping, I definitely don’t want to annoy my friends.

So there you have it, we have reasons (and some great ones I might add) behind being chronically late, but knowing all of this doesn’t necessarily change anything or fix excessive tardiness. When it comes to personality type, unfortunately, there is not much we can do, but luckily scientists are starting to gain insight and suggest strategies that can improve punctuality.

Breaking down an activity into detailed steps can help us more accurately estimate how long something will take.
Mentally visualizing the activity can provide a more realistic duration according to a 2012 study.
Realizing we can’t be in two places at once so actively planning fewer activities and giving ourselves more time to complete them.
Setting a timer and simply stopping and making ourselves leave on time!

Accepting that we need to try harder to be on time is the first step! But it’s good to know the scientific reasons for our chronic tardiness, and that hey, even though being late is one of our faults it looks like running late is associated with some pretty great positive traits too. Source