Time is on my side...

I have started showing up about an hour early for work on a pretty regular basis--I know this probably (definitely) makes me sound like a loser who doesn't have anything else to do. I have had a few of the cashiers ask why I always show up for work so early and I normally just laugh and shrug. But this actually started for a few reasons. The first time it happened by accident.  I actually started work at 8:00 but I accidentally wrote down that I started work at 7:00 so I ended up getting to work about an hour early. Luckily, I brought a book with me so I sat up in the break room and read until it was time for me to start work. Then it happened again when a while ago I was scheduled to work on a Monday night and I had some errands to run before work. I ended up getting to work about an hour early because the errands were all pretty close to work and didn't take nearly as long as I thought. I could have gone back home but I figured by the time I got home I would have just enough time to stick a frozen dinner in the microwave, stuff my face, and leave again--so I just went straight to work instead. I went up to the break room and I paid the bills I had stuffed in the bottom of my purse that I hadn't gotten around to paying yet. So after it happened a few times I began to realize I was actually getting stuff done when I was sitting up there in the break room waiting for work to start. Since then I have sort of made a habit of showing up about an hour early for work about once a week. Sometimes I read. Sometimes I pay bills that are just staring at me every time I open my purse. Sometimes I balance my checkbook (which reminds me why I have to be there in the first place). Sometimes I make to do lists for the upcoming week or make notes about e-mails I want to type and send. Whatever it is I do with that extra hour it has sort of turned into an hour of down time with no real distractions. I don't have to worry that I'm going to get caught up doing something and end up being late for work because I'm already there. I'm not saying the answer for everyone is to show up an hour early for work and sit in the break room on a crappy, uncomfortable folding chair but I do really think if you can clear some time in your schedule for you to just focus on the odds and ends you need to get done it may help you to be better organized. For me that extra hour--those 60 little minutes--have made a nice little difference.