Here's why you are always late for everything, according to science
Everyone has a friend who is always late, someone who turns up puffing and panting to every social event and constantly misses flights and meetings.
But scientists believe they might understand why – and how it's possible to put an end to poor time-keeping.
People who are late tend to underestimate the time it takes them to travel, University College London's Hugo Spiers told Live Science.
He said: "It is likely that there's a mechanism in the brain that causes some people to be late for meetings because they underestimate the time it will take them to get there."
It is to do with the hippocampus, a part of the brain that helps us remember when to do something and how long it takes, Spiers believes.
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Other experts have suggested that being familiar with a journey may make us underestimate how long it takes.
Emily Waldum, of Campbell University in North Carolina, said: "If we have a lot of experience performing a task, we are more likely to underestimate how long it will take."
Some researchers believe that some people are actually 'born to be late', or with a personality type that means they find it hard to be punctual.
But there could be more complex psychology at work, according to Alfie Kohn in a 2017 article in Psychology Today.
He said: "Maybe tardy arrivers enjoy the attention they get from making an entrance and breathlessly describing to the assembled group whatever detained them on this occasion.
"Or maybe such people are simply indifferent to the effects of making others wait for them, a symptom of a more general egocentricity. They're caught up in their own needs and preferences and fail to take the perspective of others – a prerequisite, perhaps, to making an effort to be on time."
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But Kohn said that for some people – especially those who inconvenience themselves, by missing flights, for instance – it may be a defect that they struggle to control.
"I suspect that those who chronically show up late don't do these things. Perhaps they have a tendency to lose themselves in whatever they're currently doing and don't discover what time it is until it's too late."
But how can late people make themselves arrive on time? One key thing could be to stop trying to multi-task.
Dr Jeff Conte, of San Diego University, also said that personality differences mean that people who are often late tend to underestimate how long tasks will take.
If you try and take on several things – such as finishing work, getting dressed, and putting the children to bed – you'll be even later.
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