Ten minutes late isn’t a ruined day. Walking in anyway is how you save it.

A small failure early in the morning gets promoted into the theme of the whole day, and then you behave accordingly. Being late is a ten-minute problem that turns into a wasted day only if you decide the day is already spoiled and stop trying. Walking in is the hard part, and it is also the entire repair.

When you are running behind, send a short message if you can and then simply arrive. Skip the long apology and the explanation nobody asked for, and pick up at whatever is happening now. Treat the rest of the hours as untouched, because they are.