I’ve noticed that salespeople are really good at keeping appointments with other people.
- A prospect wants 30 minutes, it goes on the calendar.
- A customer needs to talk, we make the time.
- Our manager schedules a meeting, we’re there.
Yet put an appointment on the calendar with ourselves and somehow the rules change. That time becomes negotiable.
I was in a meeting recently where the CRO said, “I want you to be selfish.” He was talking about protecting your time and making sure the things you need to accomplish actually get done. I understood what he meant, but I don’t think selfish is the right way to think about your time.
When you block time on your calendar, you’ve made a commitment.
At some point, you looked at everything you need to accomplish and decided something was important enough to deserve your time. Maybe it was prospecting, working on an opportunity strategy, preparing for a customer conversation, or simply giving yourself time to think.
Then someone asks for that time.
Maybe it’s an email that feels urgent, a Slack or Teams message, a “quick question,” or a meeting invitation that appears on your calendar. Whatever it is, we often look at the appointment we made with ourselves and think, “I can move that.”
And sometimes you can.
What I find interesting is how quickly we’re willing to do it.
- We don’t blow off a prospect appointment, because someone stopped by our desk to make lunch plans.
- We don’t automatically look at a customer appointment and think, “I can move that.”
- We don’t casually skip a meeting with our manager because something else popped up.
We’ve made a commitment to another person, so we protect the time.
Why should the commitment you made to yourself automatically be worth less?
Experienced salespeople know there will ALWAYS be something else demanding their attention. Another email, another request, another problem, another priority someone else wants to put on your plate. If you constantly break appointments with yourself to accommodate all of them, eventually their priorities become your calendar.
That doesn’t mean your calendar should be inflexible. Sales is unpredictable. Customer situations change. Priorities shift. Things happen that genuinely are more important than what you planned to do.
When that happens, move the appointment with yourself. Find another place for it on your calendar and keep the commitment.
There is a difference between intentionally changing your priorities and allowing your priorities to disappear every time someone else wants your attention.
Protecting your time isn’t selfish. Keeping an appointment with yourself doesn’t mean you aren’t available to customers, coworkers, or your manager. It means you recognize that the things you need to accomplish deserve space on your calendar too.
The next time you’re about to give that time away, ask yourself whether you would cancel the appointment this easily if someone else were waiting for you.
Then remember, someone is: YOU.