Friday morning, while I was on a masterminding call, I got a message from my doctor’s office, looking to set up a conference appointment. That means I was going in to speak to the doctor for five to ten minutes.
When I finished my mastermind call, I called the office back. It was lunchtime, so I left a message. When they hadn’t returned my call by 4 p.m., I called again. They had me on hold for so long the system hung up on me.
I waited the weekend, and called back Monday. They told me they could schedule me for two weeks out, or for later that morning.
Of course I chose later that morning. I cut my racquetball game short a half hour, drank the protein shake I had packed and went over to the doctor’s office.
After a half hour in the waiting room, I noticed the sign that said, “if you’ve been waiting for 20 minutes, please check with us.” They told me they were a little backed up.
After another 15 minutes, I remembered I had Haanel’s book on the Kindle app on my phone, so I opened my phone, did some reading, and walked around the lobby.
It was another 25 minutes before they brought me back to the exam room, where I waited another 25 minutes before the doctor came in (retrospectively, I’m sure they brought me back to the exam room because I was walking around the exam room).
If you’ve been doing the math, that’s an hour and 10 minutes in the waiting room, plus another 25 minutes waiting in the exam room (total: 95 minute), for what wound up being a seven-minute conversation.
That 25 minutes waiting for the doctor, though, was perfect. In the waiting room, the TV was blaring, people were coming in and out, and there was lots of chatter.
The exam room was quiet, outside of people walking in the hallway outside the (closed) door. It was good time to sit in the quiet, practice the Haanel, shuck the frustration of sitting in the waiting room for over an hour and in general, be able to focus for my conversation with the doctor.
Quiet, sit, patient. Exhale.