Ever since I was a kid, the clocks in our house have been set to different and inaccurate times. This is on purpose. For instance, the bathroom clock is always 15 minutes fast, the clock in the kitchen is traditionally 4 minutes fast, the car clock is 40 minutes fast.
It’s important that we establish the premise: setting clocks ahead will fool us into thinking that it’s much later than it actually is, and that will cause us to be early or on-time for events and other scheduled happenings. At first glance, there seems to be two problems with this system. One, we’re still late. We recalculate the time based on what the real time is, and since we know that the clock is way too fast, we end up taking more time to complete the tasks preventing us from arriving on time.
The second problem is that all the clocks have different times. If we lived in a house where we set all the clocks 10 minutes ahead, and then pretended that they were actually on time, this system may work. But if you were that meticulous, why would you need to use this so-called trick, anyway?
It’s paradoxical. My rule about good “lifehack” system is that you have to assume that the user is slightly disorganized, but not completely incompetent. When I leave my bag near the door in the morning, I’ve fully forgotten that I’ve left it there. It surprises me when I see it there, and it serves as the ultimate fail-proof way of remembering my stuff. Setting clocks ahead 15 minutes isn’t a good way of getting places on time, simply because you’re aware of the “trick.”
The key to any “trick” to make yourself more organized is to know what your personal set-back is going to be. It’s obviously not the physical clock, since you’re late anyway. It may, however, be the time you spend getting ready - which could mean you should set your clothes out on your desk the night before. Or that you have trouble waking up, which means you should condition yourself to wake up earlier.
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