canyonwalker | Not Going to Seattle Today. It's Like Nobody Commits Anymore.

Late last week I made plans to travel to Seattle for a day on business. It was somewhat last-minute; I was booking on Wednesday to travel today, less than a week later. I didn't mind that it was last-minute. Last-minute is the only way that meetings happen anymore. I've been trying to schedule this trip since at least November. It's kept getting pushed out a week or two at a time. Each time there's something else that comes up. There's always something. And once again it's been pushed out a week or two.

Partly I don't mind this trip being postponed yet-again. Having just returned last night from a week in Las Vegas I'm glad for a few days at home right now. On the other hand, this— travel— is the job I signed up for. Stuff I'd like to make happen is not happening as long as I'm sitting at my home office because of the latest "Oops, something else came up this week" situation.

Sadly this situation of last minute commitments— and last minute cancellations of commitments— is the new normal in sales. Some might say, "Well, you've got to be flexible," or, "Flexibility is more important now than ever before." Hey, flexibility is great. But at some point you've actually got to put a priority on making something happen. Or that thing will never happen.