Beat the clock: the surprising psychology behind being perpetually late

There are as many reasons for unpunctuality as there are habitually tardy people - and the underlying reasons can be complex

Sometimes, one of my psychotherapy clients will be late. "The tube got stuck; I do apologise." If it happens once, I don't treat it as significant. But some clients are perpetually late - perhaps just five or 10 minutes, but always - and out of breath when they get to the door. Then I am curious about what is behind their pattern of lateness, what it means and what purpose it serves.

There are probably as many reasons for unpunctuality as there are habitually late people. Sometimes it seems unfathomable, but not always. One client remembered that his mother always spent so long in the bathroom that she made him late for school. She told him that it didn't matter, and early people are uptight anyway. In his unconscious, being on time for things had got mixed up with being disloyal to his mother and therefore bad. Once he had found this narrative, he lost his compulsion for lateness.