Continued here.

5] We only have 168 hours in the week to allocate and therefore, they must be fairly apportioned, in a realistic, workable, flexible schedule, ruthlessly applied and encompassing all the little hidden things which don’t ordinarily go into one, e.g. 20 minute breaks.

What we are creating here is not only an expanse of paper with a few lines on it but our sanity, peace of mind and our health plus our value as a person. Despite this, too many schedules don’t work because:

1] they fail to be realistic and fair: For example, say you have five clients today. By scheduling them one session after another after another, so you can squeeze yet another in, that’s pointless because:

a. it does not take into account the housekeeping items like disrobing, getting the coffee and the social banter; it does not take into account phone calls, nor time over-runs;
b. it treats clients like cattle - move ‘em in, in move ’em out – plus it’s unfair to the client, who’s paid for a full hour of our time;
c. it does not allow for unforeseen factors.

2] they fail to be workable, with cushions: Are you a ‘five-minuter’? You know: “I’ll be there in five, seven minutes.” No we won’t. It will be at least 20 minutes by the time we’ve done everything from starting the car in winter to the last minute caller to negotiating that traffic hazard.

The result is the ‘apology syndrome’ - coming in 15 to 20 minutes late with abject apologies. The other is meant to sympathize and admire our extreme busy-ness but in fact we are p—ing that client off big time. In the end, we’ll lose business. No one is impressed with our busy-ness, when they’re the ones suffering it. If the journey is known to be 20 minutes, we must schedule 40.

The result of that, in turn, is someone who is more relaxed, better prepared and more able to meet unforeseen changes. Plus we can use the schedule as our defence.

3] they haven't everything written into that schedule: Every little break, journey time, time of month factor, weather considerations, reputation of the clients, all the little side-jobs and shopping, all of it - it all needs factoring in. If we don't, then the schedule exerts pressure on us, rather than brings relief.

The result is that we persevere for a while and then just crash – either get sick or take a week off. Even strong minded people become harder, more glazed, more preemptory in manner. It’s job stress and it could have been avoided by scheduling. Lavish time allocation in the scheduling is the answer:

a. Give ourselves more than enough time;
b. Don’t bite off more than we can chew and don’t think we can do something when long term results actually tell us otherwise – a prime failing of the self-sufficient;
c. Don’t show anyone our timetable, for the reason mentioned next.

4] other people will not accept blank spaces in our schedule: I once used a true schedule in Excel – the day divided into 10 minute segments and then ruled in exact times I was face-to-face, then the journey times and all the breaks. It looked appalling. Think about it – 168 hours and even if we work hard, no more than 70 of those will be face to face. So that’s a lot of blank space on the paper.

I showed a woman my schedule to explain why I had no time for extra sessions. She peered at the graphic and stabbed a finger at 7 in the morning and said: “You’re free here.” Her opinion. And if I still refused, then I was a lazy s-o-a-b. We can never win with clients.

So, apart from travel time, which can’t be faked, we have to invent clients and write them in. For example, if we absolutely must do our domestics, then chat to our friend around 15:00 on Wednesday, we don’t write that in. We write in that we’re seeing Mrs. Jones. No one can question that. This is related to our ability to refuse.

5] people can’t say no: If we have a gruelling day scheduled, which we know will be hard on our voice and brain, then someone calls and wants to be ‘squeezed in’ around 19:00, we mustn’t acquiesce for these reasons:

a. we are shortchanging the client by being less than 100% ‘on song’ and therefore our professional reputation is also at stake. A polite refusal will annoy the client but will eventually be forgotten. A shoddy session will neither be forgiven nor forgotten. It mustn’t be undertaken if we know it’s useless;
b. control of our schedule, which is, after all, to preserve health and calmness so that we can deliver a better service to the client, passes out of our hands into someone else’s and now we’re at the whim of others – precisely what we were trying to prevent;
c. a client who is reasonable will accept there are limits to how much we can do in a day. If he wants to insist on shoddy service, then it’s not a client we’d wish to keep on our books;
if he’s left it to the last minute because of his own lack of organization, he mustn’t be allowed to drag us into it because it will be panic, shouting, stress and everything we don’t actually need at the end of a day;
d. the demand had nothing to do with our welfare – it was all for him and to hell with us.

6] they don’t include breaks: Our secretary should act as our buffer and our mobile should be switched off at least once in a day. The schedule registers Mrs. Jones but in fact we’re playing carpet golf or snoozing with our feet up. No one must ever know we were doing that – no one ever forgives someone who refuses to see him. But we must have that time to recharge the batteries. Research has shown that just a 20 minute break is all that is needed to give us the oomph to get through the rest of the day. Meal breaks are also vital.

Where this breaks down is with business people. They’re terrified of switching the mobile off because there might be an ‘important’ call they’ll miss. [Bertrand Russell quote at the start] Look – we’ve simply gone offline, all right? Not for two hours, not for an hour – just for 20 minutes and our secretary admits no one during that time. This creates a feeling of shame in us, of uneasiness, until we get used to it and see the benefits. Bright and fresh, we meet our next client and he or she has a great session. The shame and uneasiness was a false emotion.

7] windfall ‘blank spaces’ are filled in with another job: A blank space is just that. That’s the principle of holidays – breaks from the routine. If we unexpectedly have a cancellation, we mustn’t fill it in with someone else. We should just muddle about doing something we’ve been meaning to do for sometime.

8] people deviate from the schedule ‘just the once’: Every deviation is a ‘special case’, just this, just that. Just, just, just, just, just. No, no - a thousand times no. These deviations accumulate and then invalidate the balance we’ve created – they throw the schedule out and we play ‘catch-up’ for the rest of the day and even for the week. We mustn’t deviate. Plus – it’s a good discipline for us not to.

9] more is less: the more we try to pack in, the less product we actually deliver. All the little nuances which might have attracted the client or even our partner to us in the first place slip away. We’re too tired, we think we’re continuing to deliver but we’re not. As Chris Rea said, in Espresso Logic: “Stop, think, walk away and let it be.”

10] people don’t take their schedules seriously enough: As mentioned earlier, what we are creating here is not only an expanse of paper with a few lines on it but our sanity, peace of mind and health plus our value as a person. Schedules protect us from aggressive and unreasonable people; they allow us to politely offload those we don’t want to see; they filter our life and allow through only the important people and the important things.

Make a comprehensive schedule now, people. Try it, amend it, try it again and keep working and re-working it ten, twelve times until it works – then stick to it. You won’t look back.