💬 I leave early and still arrive 5 minutes late, every single time

Yesterday I had a 10 am meeting in Hitech City. I left home at 8:45. It's a 45 minute drive. I arrived at 10:04. I had a full 30 minutes of buffer, and somehow I used all of it. I wasn't stuck anywhere. No accident, no flyover jam. There was just a bit of everything. A tea at the stall near the signal, a call from my mother, a wrong turn at Gachibowli. This happens to me every time. Weddings, flights, dentist appointments. I'm always 5 minutes behind. Never 20, never an hour. Just exactly 5, like something is measuring it. When I lived in Toronto it was the same. I'd leave 1 hour early for a 20 minute trip. And I'd still be running into the building with my coat half on. I've tried leaving 30 minutes earlier. That works for about 2 days. Then my brain adjusts. It says, okay, we have time, so it finds ways to use it. Another cup of tea. Another look at my phone. I've tried setting alarms. Alarm for leaving, alarm for locking up, alarm for the alarm. They all go off and I look at them calmly and do 3 more things before standing up. My wife says I'm not bad with time, I'm bad with the word now. She might be right. Anyone else live like this? What do you do about it? Do you have a trick that works? Please don't say wake up earlier. I woke up at 6 yesterday. The meeting still started without me. I'm writing this from the car park. I'm 6 minutes late for dinner. Nobody's surprised.

My trick is lying to myself, I decide the meeting starts 20 minutes before it really does.

I used to think mine was a scheduling problem until I noticed I do the same thing even when I have nowhere pressing to be. Doctor's appointment with a two hour buffer, still five minutes behind because I stopped to water a plant on the way out. My sister sets her clocks ten minutes fast to compensate, but her brain adjusted and she is back to being late again.