It happens to all of us: that sudden, sinking realization that you are running late 🏃‍♀️. Maybe it’s for the early morning bus, or maybe it’s for that super-early, 8 a.m. meeting we all used to dread back in the office days.

In those first few seconds, there’s a frantic, almost desperate scramble to make the original deadline. You sprint, you rush, you grab your keys, all in the hope of somehow, miraculously, being on time 🏃‍♀️.

But then comes the pivot.

The Shift: From ‘On Time’ to ‘Optimized Lateness’

There’s a clear moment when the logical part of your brain kicks in and says, “The time has lapsed. The bus has gone. The meeting has started.”

At that exact second, the game changes. The goal is no longer to be punctual; the goal is to optimize the lateness. It’s a mental switch that transforms a failure (being late) into a new, urgent objective (minimizing the damage).

It stops being about if I’ll be late and starts being about how late I will be.

I suddenly become the ultimate efficiency expert. Every decision is a calculation:

• Can I skip the elevator and take the stairs for a 30-second gain? (Yes.)
• Is it faster to cut through the park or stick to the sidewalk? (Park—even if it means a slightly dirtier shoe.)
• Is it worth the risk of going $10 over the speed limit to shave 90 seconds off the commute? (Maybe… let’s keep it safe, but brisk.)

The Final Calculation

This is where the real optimization happens. When I know I’m already delayed, the mission is simply this: Five minutes late is okay. Ten minutes is a problem.

If I’m already delayed by three minutes, I’m fighting tooth and nail to ensure those three minutes don’t balloon into eight. I’m no longer racing to beat the clock; I’m racing to contain the damage.

It’s a strange mental marathon, this race against a deadline that has already passed. But in that frantic sprint, there’s a certain clarity. It boils down to a single, high-stakes question: What is the absolute earliest I can still arrive?

And honestly? Being only five minutes late when it felt like a disaster was brewing? That sometimes feels like a win in itself.

What’s your best “optimized lateness” story? Have you ever managed to turn a near-disaster into a manageable delay?