I recently saw a TikTok from @BlakeReedEvans about how service providers react when they have a large hole in their schedule. A few days later I had a conversation with a salon leader who was struggling with people calling out when their first appointment wasn’t filled and it got me thinking about the whole topic of scheduling.

You obviously need to have a schedule that fits into your life. But you also need one that is appropriate for where you are on your career path. For many professionals, the schedule necessary to help them GET busy, may be different that the one that is possible once they ARE busy.

Regardless of where you are on that journey at this moment, it is important for you to be “all in” with your schedule. Another way to say it . . . you need to be 100% committed to whatever schedule you choose. If for you that’s 30 hours/week, be 100%committed to the 30 hrs. If that’s 12 hours/week, be 100% committed to the 12 hours.

I think it is important for you to actually tell yourself, “I’m committed to x hours per week in the salon and everything else needs to be scheduled around that.” Leaving the door open to thoughts like, “it’s okay to leave early if I don’t have anything,” or “I’m not showing up until I have something” can become problematic and affect you in a couple of ways:

1. It dilutes your commitment to the hours that you are actually booked. The distraction of “If it DOESN’T book, what will I do with the extra hours? Should I make plans? I have a million things to do,” quickly gives way to, “I hope it doesn’t book in.” Unfortunately, these thoughts are occupying the very part of your brain that would normally be listening for opportunities to offer upgrades or additional services to whoever IS on your schedule.
2. It robs your coworkers of your contributions to the team (to help someone when they’re in the weeds, provide a second opinion on a formulation, contributions to “the vibe” or helping with overall salon tasks.
3. You eliminate any opportunities for a walk-in/call-in (even if that is not the norm in your salon, it could still happen).
4. You eliminate the opportunity of benefitting from a teammate getting a request for a service that they can’t accommodate in the moment, but would be willing to hand over to you.
5. When leaving early becomes acceptable to you (let alone a habit), it can quickly grow from an unwillingness to complete your shift with no guests on the book, or reluctance to take a guest late in your shift, to assessing your days in advance and then deciding whether it’s worth showing up at all.
6. You may become “invisible” to the very people who can help your career because they don’t know if they can rely on you to be there. Are you a “Yes” person (always willing to jump in even if you don’t know the details or the outcome), a “How” (maybe willing to help, but require all of the details before committing), or a “How Much” person (need to know what’s in it for you before even considering it? When I think of the most successful people around me, every one of them is a “yes” person.

As a huge proponent of work/life harmony, I respect that you want to protect your personal time and even agree that it is your right to do so. But there is a difference (both in approach and in results) between “demanding protection of my personal time” and “earning the right to protect my personal time.” My observation is that the most successful people view that as a right that is earned rather than one to which they are entitled.

Simply put, this is a case of investing (and yes, sometimes sacrificing) today so you can have more choices in the future. This is very similar to the dynamic of building financial wealth - “I work so hard, I deserve to have this NOW” vs. “If I work hard and sacrifice some things now, I will achieve financial freedom and independence sooner. The difference is that money is a very tangible and measurable thing, and the sacrifice/reward equation produces measurable results relatively quickly.

When it comes to investing in and measuring the results of “time commitment,” those results are often less immediate and more difficult to measure. But if you trust the process and commit to the time, the foundation it builds opens the door to abundance and opportunities. You set yourself up to make more money in a shorter period of time and more consistently. It also allows you to branch out into other areas of interest within the industry (education, leadership position), or just to expand family time or pursuit of hobbies.

The next time you face that open space on your schedule, take a breath and consider whether the choice you’re about to make is not only the right one in the moment, but also one that serves your long term goals.