A New Way of Dealing with Last Minute Cancellations, Delays & Schedule Changes

Flying back from New York today, my flight was delayed (luckily, the pilot was a badass and we made it back to Chicago only 8 minutes late!) When I initially found out about the delay I was annoyed- very natural reaction, right? Anytime there is a last minute cancellation or delay in anything, we typically tend to get upset, annoyed, and/or angry. Today, I decided to change my perspective.

I’ve thought about this a lot over the years, especially in regards to my work as an in-home private music teacher. Students cancel last minute quite often due to illness, emergencies or schedule conflicts. This generally leaves me with an awkward 30 minute gap in my schedule where I don’t really have enough time to do anything productive yet it’s slightly too long of a time slot to just park and sit in my car somewhere. Cancellations and delays don’t just effect my work- Matt and I travel quite often and I find that the more I fly, the more cancelled/delayed flights I encounter, am I right?! All of that to say that I really have experience with delays and cancellations.As a super type A person who loves schedules and hate change, I really needed to learn how to cope with all of this in a better way so that I didn’t go insane.

Rather than feeling negative towards the change in plans, I started experimenting with choosing to be grateful for the extra time. When a student cancels last minute in the middle of my evening, I try to move my later students up which means I will get to come home to Matt and Otis a little earlier. If my other students aren’t able to be flexible, I try to scope out a coffee shop or store that I may need to run an errand at in the area and treat myself to some coffee, tea, a baked good, or some retail therapy. If that plan fails, I will find a place to park and take some time to call someone to catch up, answer emails, or get a few items checked off of my to do list if I can.

Today while I was waiting on my delayed flight at the airport, I was able to grab water and a snack, pee, have a walk & talk phone meeting with one of my Lessons By Brooke & Company teachers before sitting for the next 2 hours, make some schedule adjustments for a few students, catch up on social media, check a few emails AND listen to a few minutes of a podcast. All of that would not have been possible without this delay! As you can see- turning the annoyance of the extra wait time into a positive, relaxing, and potentially productive time really changes your attitude about the entire situation for the better!

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not 100% sure that this blog will ever have a strict focus. The main thing I’m going for is just to talk about real life, good food, places to travel and products/services that I adore. I challenge you to try this attitude adjustment the next time you encounter a schedule change, cancellation, or delay and see how it works in your favor! Let me know if this was helpful and stay tuned for more stuff like this coming soon! xo