When I book in a call with someone on the software I use, it automatically sends them a calendar invite email.
You know – a notification of the booking with a link in that they can use to add the appointment to their own calendar system (Google Calendar, Outlook, etc).
The other day I went on my email and four consecutive emails received were confirmations that people had accepted the appointment and added it to their own calendar.
I don’t normally give these confirmations any thought and just delete them.
But I had an idea.
I searched my deleted items for the term “has accepted this invitation”.
And something immediately jumped out at me.
A very high proportion of people that had ever accepted these were still members.
Most have gotten results in the meantime that are between “pretty good” and “excellent”.
Noticeably higher than the average in both cases.
Those who had definitely added our calls to their calendar stayed longer and got better results than those that didn’t (at least in that format).
Which got me thinking.
About the value of planning and scheduling in achieving our goals.
And the huge difference between the results for those that do as we recommend and;
– Break down their goals into the tasks needed
– Then plan and schedule those tasks accordingly each week, taking into account the specific logistics and challenges at that point
And those that don’t …….. and don’t.
And just tell themselves “I know what I need to do, I just need to do it”.
We get it.
It’s boring.
I set targets and plans each quarter, month, week and day.
Plan and schedule the tasks needed at the start of each of those time frames.
Recap and review at the end.
My wife and I have a weekly “planning meeting”.
There’s a part of me that dies inside when we’re doing it.
I wouldn’t say I enjoy any of the planning stuff in the slightest, to be honest.
But there’s a much bigger part of me that realises the massive benefit of it.
How much more I achieve because of it.
I know that by things being specifically scheduled, they stand a much higher chance of happening.
Sure, they might get rescheduled.
They might just not happen.
But they happen much more frequently and consistently than when I just try and “fit them in”.
When I tell myself “I know what I need to do, I just need to do it”.
Planning and scheduling aren’t “sexy”.
The results they bring about can be 🙂
Much love,
Jon ‘Calendar girls’ Hall
P.S. Apply now at www.myrise.uk/apply if you’re willing to make peace with the idea that spending some time doing stuff that, whilst we make as enjoyable as possible, is more an investment in way more enjoyment elsewhere for the benefits it brings our mood and energy and how our body looks and feels.
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RISE in Macclesfield was established in 2012 and specialise in Group Personal Training weight loss programmes for those that don’t like the gym and find diets boring and restrictive!
