If A Date With Ryan Gosling Is Your #1 priority….
Have you ever cancelled an appointment with someone? Why did you do it? What was the reason?
As a small business owner, I have a busy schedule full of appointments. I’m always trying to network with businesses in the area, meet prospective clients, and find new ways to make my business better. Occasionally, I get stood up. And to be fair, from time to time I am the one cancelling appointments. I get it – I have professional and family responsibilities and sometimes things are unavoidable. However, I try to keep my appointments set in stone and if I do have to cancel I go out of my way to reschedule and make it up to the person.
I know not everyone thinks this way. I once had an appointment with a fellow gym owner (now a competitor) who didn’t even show up and then emailed me hours later explaining that a friend had stopped by his gym and it happened to be his birthday. His exact words were, “You know how that is.” If I had been Ryan Gosling, how much would you like to bet he would have kept the appointment? Regardless of his intentions, his actions sent the message that he believed his time was more valuable than mine, and came across as extremely rude and inconsiderate. When I begin to notice that I am missing or canceling more appointments than usual, I ask myself, “Is this even important?” and “Why am I doing this?”. I want to make sure that I am not wasting anyone’s time, including my own. Try treating the appointments you make like they’re the most important things in your life or don’t even bother scheduling it.
We all only have so much time in the day.
It’s important to make time for the essential things in life. What things are important to you? How do you want to be remembered? What are the things that will help create the world you would like to see? These are all questions we should ask ourselves. Are there things I have to do that I don’t want to do in order to live the life I want? Of course. I don’t particularly want to meet with my tax accountant but if I want to run a business and not get shut down by the IRS I have to do it. There will always be things we don’t want to do but must in order to reach a desired outcome.
Enter: Making time for personal fitness.
You may not want to go to the gym, but the benefits of actually making it in are undeniable. When people tell me they don’t have the time to workout, I try to explain the best I can how exercising can actually help give you more time by providing you with more daily energy. I’ve mentioned before how working out is like an investment. Not only are you investing in your physical and mental health, you’re investing in something that will give you more energy throughout the day.
Don’t cancel on things which are important to you.
Think about the story I shared with you about the rude gym owner. If it was rude and unacceptable for him to cancel on me, why would it be any different for me to treat myself that way? Treat yourself with respect and keep the appointments that you set with yourself. Set a schedule for yourself to workout each week. You don’t have to set aside hours and hours. 30 minutes, 3 times a week can produce surprising results. Treat yourself with respect and your workouts as very important. I’ll never cancel a date with Ryan Gosling. Treat your workouts like dates with Gosling. Don’t cancel on Gosling! At the very least, reschedule immediately!
“It wasn’t over. Its still isn’t over!” Ryan Gosling – The Notebook.