Build in Buffers
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
Believe it or not, back to school season is upon us. In our house, summer tends to be a time of less activities and coming and going places as we please. But when school starts, we go back to needing to be more intentional about when we arrive and leave places (like school). And since there are distinct start and end times for events, we have to get back into the habit of creating time buffers for ourselves.
We live in a world with many different variables that we have no control over, so creating lag time in our days to help us deal with the unexpected is an art that many people don’t cultivate. Last year was my first year dealing with getting my young child to school. I had to experiment with the amount of time needed from announcing it was time to go to actually arriving at school. If we just needed to put shoes on and walk, we could be at school in 10 minutes. However, if a bathroom visit was needed, we needed longer than 10 minutes. If my child wasn’t excited about going to school that day and needed to have a couple of minutes of calm reassurance before starting, then that’s more time. If I didn’t build in an extra 5-10 minutes of buffer time on top of the 10 minutes it took to walk to school, then my patience with my child was short if he was dawdling because I didn’t want him to be late. So the 10 minute walk to school started 15-20 minutes before we needed to be there so I could always be patient with whatever my son needed. If he arrived early, he would just chat outside with his friends for a bit before going into school. That 5-10 minute buffer kept us patient and protected our relationship.
Whenever I have a time commitment to other people, there’s probably some sort of buffer calculation. If I need to drive somewhere, I look up how long the internet says it should take to make the drive and then I usually add 10-15 minutes. Am I usually early to places? Yes. And I always have a hard copy book or an audio book ready if that happens. But if there is some traffic on the way, I know that I have a bit more time than is necessary to get there, and I don’t need to freak out.
Even if I simply have a Zoom meeting with someone from my home, I start my computer at least 15 minutes before the start time. Sometimes my computer updates right when I start it, and I have that lag time for unexpected circumstances like that so I’m always sure to be on time for the people I have made commitments to.
If you find yourself habitually running late for events or meetings or if unexpected delays are regularly driving you to impatience and madness, perhaps you could start building in some buffers to your day. Giving yourself an extra 10-15 minutes cushion can be enough to keep the anxiety away.
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Sincerely Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team