Sometimes my competitive partners will flake on practice and I ' m not sure how to confront them about it . Don ' t confront them , women hate responsibility for their mistakes . Be chill about it , but equally once she flakes then don ' t commit your time to her again . Once she ' s flaked once , just mentally flag her as unreliable and treat her accordingly . ie not top priority , always have a plan B , be happy to flake on her yourself , etc . Just ACCEPT that this is how they are . On the one hand I don ' t necessarily want to treat them like children Why not ? Behave as a child , get treated as a child . How can I be more assertive while still being somewhat outcome dependent on these partnerships ? You are dealing with WOMEN . It ' s better to say haha no problem , I went round and practised with XXX other person and it was great than to say don ' t do this again . In fact never say don ' t do this again that ' s retrospective responsibility pushing and women hate it which is dumb and irrational and stupid , but that ' s life with women . Better to laugh it off at the time , but then negotiate with this in mind for the next session . Last time you cancelled , so I ' m actually a bit wary of committing a time to you again But I won ' t cancel again , I PPRRROMMMISSEEE Are you sure ? I PRORMMMISSEEEEEE Well , ok then . If she says yes I ' m flakey or doesn ' t promise , treat her as unreliable . If she flakes again , treat her as unreliable . Always be prepared to walk away . Never be invested in a woman , because any relationship with a woman is a depreciating asset that can evaporate at any second . You can ' t change women , but you can work with their nature .