Author: Daniel Cole

It’s kinda hard to get to school on time, especially if you don’t have an organized schedule. Maybe you do make it to school on time, but cut it extremely close to being as late. As the new late policy has been established at McClatchy, I thought it’d be best to share some things you could do to hopefully get to class on time and not have to get the slip and wait in a ridiculous line.

1. Early Bird Catches The Worm

Now, you don’t exactly have to wake up early, but it is a good idea to go to bed at a reasonable time. You might be tempted to stay up late for some sort of game or to watch something on your phone, which I completely understand, but unless you have a really legit reason to stay up late, try to get to sleep close to 10 PM for the sake of your morning-self. It is hard to get your body to wake up at a designated time, even with alarms. If you could manage to wake up somewhere close to 6 AM, imagine the productive things you could do with all of that time

2. Point A to B

Try to leave for school at a reasonable time to ensure that you arrive by thetime first period starts. Make sure to factor in the walk/drive/route you take to school; maybe it takes a few minutes, or maybe it takes ten. If your commute is something like fifteen minutes, for example, I’d suggest that you leave sometime between 7:55-8:00 AM, so you have enough time to walk to class and gather your bearings as opposed to sprinting to get there at the last second. Punctuality is all about crossing the distance between points A and B, and from there you can form a schedule and do as you please.

3. Stay Organized and On Top of it.

Mornings can be messy, regardless of the setting. There are a lot of things people have to fit into their schedule, such as a morning shower, preparation of breakfast, getting dressed, etc. Creating a schedule or routine for your morning helps keep duties on track, so all of these specific tasks don’t take excessively longer than they need to. And hey—you can also have a light schedule where each activity is a little more time-consuming. Want to take a hot shower in the morning or sleep in nice and late? You can try just that; just make sure you have a set plan/timeline to accomplish the necessary steps of your morning and head out for school.

Of course, these are all just recommendations. If you’ve already developed habits that work for you, then you can continue on your way, or, if you don’t mind the slip, pay no attention to my suggestions. The bottom line of this How-to is that organization and a little extra planning can make any schedule easier to manage, so anyone can adjust to the new (though quite strict) CKM late policy.