{"id":1447,"date":"2012-06-14T18:00:39","date_gmt":"2012-06-14T23:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/?p=1447"},"modified":"2024-10-17T12:52:02","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T17:52:02","slug":"your-most-important-appointment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/your-most-important-appointment\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Most Important Appointment"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"1447\" class=\"elementor elementor-1447\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-34b33b9 elementor-section-full_width elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"34b33b9\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-d5e7833\" data-id=\"d5e7833\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e66b320 elementor-widget elementor-widget-template\" data-id=\"e66b320\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"template.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-template\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"section\" data-elementor-id=\"12411\" class=\"elementor elementor-12411\" data-elementor-post-type=\"elementor_library\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-1255d61 elementor-section-full_width elementor-section-content-middle elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"1255d61\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-66 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-6264de3\" data-id=\"6264de3\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-61125fc elementor-widget elementor-widget-theme-post-title elementor-page-title elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"61125fc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"theme-post-title.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Your Most Important Appointment<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2c1117e elementor-align-center elementor-widget elementor-widget-post-info\" data-id=\"2c1117e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"post-info.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"elementor-inline-items elementor-icon-list-items elementor-post-info\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-fcfa45b elementor-inline-item\" itemprop=\"author\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/author\/lbwebmaster\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-far-user-circle\" viewBox=\"0 0 496 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M248 104c-53 0-96 43-96 96s43 96 96 96 96-43 96-96-43-96-96-96zm0 144c-26.5 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href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/2012\/06\/14\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-calendar\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M12 192h424c6.6 0 12 5.4 12 12v260c0 26.5-21.5 48-48 48H48c-26.5 0-48-21.5-48-48V204c0-6.6 5.4-12 12-12zm436-44v-36c0-26.5-21.5-48-48-48h-48V12c0-6.6-5.4-12-12-12h-40c-6.6 0-12 5.4-12 12v52H160V12c0-6.6-5.4-12-12-12h-40c-6.6 0-12 5.4-12 12v52H48C21.5 64 0 85.5 0 112v36c0 6.6 5.4 12 12 12h424c6.6 0 12-5.4 12-12z\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-date\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time>June 14, 2012<\/time>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-9c8288a elementor-inline-item\" itemprop=\"commentCount\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/your-most-important-appointment\/#respond\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-far-comment-dots\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M144 208c-17.7 0-32 14.3-32 32s14.3 32 32 32 32-14.3 32-32-14.3-32-32-32zm112 0c-17.7 0-32 14.3-32 32s14.3 32 32 32 32-14.3 32-32-14.3-32-32-32zm112 0c-17.7 0-32 14.3-32 32s14.3 32 32 32 32-14.3 32-32-14.3-32-32-32zM256 32C114.6 32 0 125.1 0 240c0 47.6 19.9 91.2 52.9 126.3C38 405.7 7 439.1 6.5 439.5c-6.6 7-8.4 17.2-4.6 26S14.4 480 24 480c61.5 0 110-25.7 139.1-46.3C192 442.8 223.2 448 256 448c141.4 0 256-93.1 256-208S397.4 32 256 32zm0 368c-26.7 0-53.1-4.1-78.4-12.1l-22.7-7.2-19.5 13.8c-14.3 10.1-33.9 21.4-57.5 29 7.3-12.1 14.4-25.7 19.9-40.2l10.6-28.1-20.6-21.8C69.7 314.1 48 282.2 48 240c0-88.2 93.3-160 208-160s208 71.8 208 160-93.3 160-208 160z\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-comments\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNo Comments\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a17d19d elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"a17d19d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div style=\"text-align:center;\u201d>\r\n<span class=\"bsf-rt-reading-time\"><span class=\"bsf-rt-display-label\" prefix=\"Reading Time\">\n\t\t<\/span> <span class=\"bsf-rt-display-time\" reading_time=\"2\"><\/span> \n\t\t<span class=\"bsf-rt-display-postfix\" postfix=\"mins\"><\/span><\/span>\r\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-70a0327\" data-id=\"70a0327\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-228f411 elementor-widget elementor-widget-theme-post-featured-image elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"228f411\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"theme-post-featured-image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/elementor\/thumbs\/Appointment-CC-qon9j8eoqrmwvvg73fss8mwhrx3cvh3fet3dkpw64g.png\" title=\"Appointment-CC350\" alt=\"Appointment\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-152c3e2b elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"152c3e2b\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-2433ddb2\" data-id=\"2433ddb2\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6b69d24b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"6b69d24b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/swim-sm-ms.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1791\" title=\"swim-sm-ms\" src=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/swim-sm-ms.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"187\"><\/a><strong>Drowning in a Sea of&#8230; <\/strong><\/h3>\nWe work in a sea of meetings, phone calls and e-messages. If you described your typical day, do you find yourself&#8230;\n<ul>\n \t<li>Sinking?<\/li>\n \t<li>Treading Water?<\/li>\n \t<li>Or, Swimming?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nToo often we settle for treading water. It&#8217;s tough to stay afloat. Sometimes we sink.&nbsp; How can you spend more of your time actually swimming?\n<h3><strong>Whose Needs Are You Serving?<\/strong><\/h3>\nWe have customers (internal and external), bosses, teammates and colleagues. All need a piece of our time.&nbsp; When their demands exceed the number of hours in the day, we&#8217;re sinking.&nbsp; With time so scarce, how can you invest a reasonable amount of time to serve your own agenda?&nbsp; The answer lies in how you manage&#8230;\n<h3><strong>Your Appointment Calendar<\/strong><\/h3>\nUnless you can somehow seize control of at least part of your day, you&#8217;re more likely to sink than swim.&nbsp; We all keep an advance record of our commitments to others in the form of our appointment calendar.&nbsp; Most of us forget to use our appointment calendar as a tool to make commitments to ourselves. It&#8217;s so elementary, we dismiss the idea. But is it really? If you&#8217;re like most, here&#8217;s a simple suggestion that will serve as your life saver.&nbsp; Both literally and figuratively.\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/life-preserver-ms.gif\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" title=\"life-preserver-ms\" src=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/life-preserver-ms.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"144\" height=\"144\"><\/a><\/strong>Book An Appointment With Yourself and Commit to Keep It<\/strong><\/h2>\nUse that time to address your goal supported activities that will allow you to actually <em>swim<\/em> instead of treading water or sinking. If you&#8217;re asking: <em>&#8220;What goals?&#8221;<\/em> Or you don&#8217;t know what those goal-supported activities should be, start by using your appointment time to figure that out.\n<h3><strong>Seven Steps to A Successful One-On-None Appointment<\/strong><\/h3>\nYou&#8217;re more likely to swim further with these steps:\n<ol>\n \t<li>When I say &#8220;book&#8221; it, I mean enter it in your calendar to reserve that time.&nbsp; Resist the temptation to &#8220;make a mental note&#8221;.&nbsp; How well does that really work when your phone is ringing and your in-box is backed up?<\/li>\n \t<li>Commit to keeping that appointment the same as you would to a meeting with your boss or best customer.<\/li>\n \t<li>Shut off all potential interruptions and distractions<\/li>\n \t<li>Choose a proper location<\/li>\n \t<li>Start and end your personal appointment meeting on-time<\/li>\n \t<li>Take notes as you would to record the key points in any other appointment and use those notes to form the agenda for your next meeting with yourself.<\/li>\n \t<li>Upon conclusion, book your next meeting for an appropriate time and location into your appointment calendar.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3><strong>Develop A Mindset for Self Discipline<\/strong><\/h3>\nThis most important appointment of the day is <strong>not <em>urgent<\/em><\/strong> in that no one else will be alarmed if you blow it off. But if you truly want to serve your own agenda instead of being a servant to other people&#8217;s demands and whims, you will give it he priority it deserves.&nbsp; And commit accordingly.\n\nIf you&#8217;re <em>treading water<\/em> or <em>sinking<\/em> on most days, give this potential <em>life saver<\/em> a try.<em> The life you save will be your own.<\/em>\n\n<strong>Related Articles<\/strong>\n<ul>\n \t<li><a title=\"Opportunity Triage\" href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/opportunity-triage\/\">Opportunity Triage<\/a><\/li>\n \t<li><a title=\"Three Simple Steps To Tackling Tough Tasks\" href=\"..\/tackling-tough-tasks\/\">Three Simple Steps To Tackling Tough Tasks<\/a><\/li>\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/vista-development.com\/time-money\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Time is Money<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-718518d e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"718518d\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2c065e6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-template\" data-id=\"2c065e6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"template.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-template\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"section\" data-elementor-id=\"12414\" class=\"elementor elementor-12414\" data-elementor-post-type=\"elementor_library\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4071460 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"4071460\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1a4707e e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"1a4707e\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you were working in an ocean, is your typical day more like: Sinking?  Treading Water?  Or, Swimming?<br \/>\nMost of us settle for treading water.  Is there a better way?  Here is a simple tactic that is a Life Saver for some. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[33,12],"tags":[85,39,145,42],"class_list":["post-1447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-self-leaderhship","category-time-management","tag-behavior-change","tag-linkedin","tag-self-discipline","tag-self-leadership"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/Appointment-CC.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1I2Yr-nl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1447"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16524,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1447\/revisions\/16524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}