Life is 10% What Happens to You and 90% How You React to It

Loss of control.

It’s something we’ve all dealt with over the past year and a half and we are getting used to going with the flow and knowing many things are simply out of our hands.

You make plans for a business meeting at a restaurant and then find out a day before that they are closed because a staff member tested positive for Covid.

You plan an all day, in-person session with a client and they call last minute to say they are in quarantine and need to do the session via Zoom.

We’ve all learned to pivot, but that loss of control is still very difficult.

How do you plan when things are constantly changing?  A client just said to me this morning that the 3 - 5 year plans seem so clear yet the next 3 months are so unclear.  

We can’t control what happens, we can only respond to the situation. The best bet is to always have a Plan B and in some cases, a Plan C. 

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” – Charles Swindoll

When you schedule that restaurant meeting, pick two potential places to meet, in case you need to switch. And a Plan C in that scenario, might be a coffee at the park if you need to be outdoors instead. 

When you plan an in-person session, discuss what will happen if one of the parties cannot attend, so if you do need to go virtual, you are still set up for success. A Plan C in that scenario might be additional dates on the calendar that you left open in case this needed to be rescheduled.

There are always options. It’s about making the decisions and doing as much prep work as you can in case something happens that you can’t foresee. This is a lesson that has been reinforced for me this year, not only with clients, but also on a personal front. It has been the recurring learning lesson in planning a wedding during a pandemic. Plan A, Plan B and Plan C are vital.  Keeping your focus on the long-term result and not in the bumps in the road. 

You know that calendaring is huge for me. I still use a written one, along with my digital one. I like to see what my week, my month, my next few months looks like. 

I recently had to take a trip and for a few days had to move around a lot of calls. The main thing when you have to do this is to be very respectful of other people’s calendars. Never undervalue the importance of being polite and respectful.  

If it took you months to get a call with someone, try your best not to cancel that. But if you were supposed to meet a friend for lunch, that is an easier thing to move to accommodate a client or colleague. This does not undervalue your friends, good friends will be in support of you and friendships can be fun over dinner, drinks or a long walk to catch up that will not overlap  business hours.  

Plan ahead, look ahead, be ready to adjust and be understanding when someone is asking you to be the one that reshedules. We are all doing our best and when you are honest, open and vulnerable, you connect with people in a real way.