How’s your timekeeping? When you make appointments here, there and everywhere, do you find yourself generally able to keep them? Or, do some of them slip through the cracks as you endlessly reschedule them?

While not all appointments are truly as urgent as all the others, there are certain appointments that you should really strive to never miss:

1. Doctor Appointment

This one has to be top of the list because it’s both irresponsible and inconsiderate to miss doctor or other hospital appointments --- we’ll deal with dentists separately below. No matter where you go, medical services are in high demand, which makes getting appointments in the first place much harder than it otherwise might be. Worst of all, when you miss a doctor appointment, you are putting your own health at risk by potentially missing something important that your doctor would otherwise spot.

In some cases when you miss an appointment, there may well be someone else on stand-by who can fill the gap you made in the schedule, which at least means no-one’s time was unduly wasted. In many other situations, however, there may be no one to take up that appointment, which means a period of perhaps 15-30 minutes is wasted. In a publicly funded healthcare system, we all have a duty to keep our appointments.

2. Dentist Appointment

Getting a dentist appointment can be quite challenging. You start with a simple search “professional dentist Carrum” to find a reputable local dentist. It can then be a nightmare finding a slot that works for all parties. Similar to other medical appointments, when you decide not to go, or simply forget to go, it just leaves a gap in the schedule that might never be filled up by any stand-by patient.

Dental checkups aren’t just for making sure that your teeth are in good order and cavity-free, either. One key thing dentists look for is signs of oral cancer. Missing a checkup might mean missing that critical moment when you could have caught it early and started treatment before the problem became too serious.

3. Parent-Teacher Conferences

You might well think that parent-teacher conferences are really just a kind of “optional” event at your school, but they’re actually very important. If you miss them for whatever reason, you might be putting your own child’s education at risk. Some busy parents might send grandparents or other relatives in their stead to simply take notes and hear the feedback, but this just makes you further removed from what’s really going on.

Parents need to show real concern and interest in their kids’ education and progress at school. There may be things that are not appropriate to share with grandparents or other relatives; things that parents need to hear and understand first hand.

4. Mental Health Professionals

If you’re seeking the help of a therapist, psychologist, or telehealth specialist for some mental health issues that you’re going through, then skipping appointments is a major no-no. Some people treat it like going to the gym, making excuses why certain days or times “aren’t good for them.” They might say they’re not in the mood. When it comes to mental health help, there really isn’t a right “mood.” One just needs to be ready to stick to appointments when they are made.

5. Client Meetings

Do you often find yourself changing appointments and meeting times with your clients? If so, you might be starting to irritate them. At best, always changing an agreed-upon meeting time comes across as unprofessional, and at worst it will spur your clients to seek help from others who are more willing to meet as soon as possible to discuss their needs.