Set a rain date
How to keep moving forward, even when life intervenes
If you’ve been invited to an outdoor event in the summer, often, right there on the invitation, is one of the most brilliant scheduling concepts ever invented.
I am talking about the “rain date.”
By setting a rain date, the hosts are acknowledging that much can go predictably wrong outside. It’s right there in the “rain date” name! But there’s no question of whether the event will be rescheduled, or for when. It will be — on the rain date. People know not to put anything immovable in the second slot if they’d like to go.
The existence of a rain date vastly increases the chances that the original event happens, even if not when originally planned.
Rain happens
As I study people’s schedules, I have come to see that we need a lot more rain dates in life.
People make time for their priorities — and then they get frustrated, because life intervenes. You wanted to have one-on-one time with a child, but then another kid got sick and the schedule had to change. You wanted to meet one-on-one with a direct report to tell him what a great job he’s doing, but then your biggest client had a huge emergency right before your scheduled Tuesday at 10 a.m. meeting. So the meeting got canceled. It wasn’t urgent. It all makes sense. But then you wind up feeling more reactive than effective.
So if something is important to you, set a rain date. If that 10 a.m. Tuesday meeting doesn’t happen, and you’ve identified this as a top priority, then set 10 a.m. Friday as a back-up slot.
Something came up
Now, of course, when I suggest this, people often get alarmed. Are you serious, Laura? It’s hard enough to set one time for a priority — you’re telling me I need to set two times?
Well, if it truly is a top priority, why not?
But you can also approximate this by leaving more open space in general. Maybe you generally keep Fridays open so that whatever gets bumped during the week can go there. Or you leave two afternoons open per week to absorb the emergencies. Or 90 minutes a day. Different strategies work for different people.
But true time management masters know that “something came up” is not a legitimate reason to not make progress on your priorities. Something always comes up. That’s the nature of life! It rains. So we set rain dates — and keep moving forward.