Have you ever had your vacation or business plans surprisingly or suddenly altered? Hurricanes have a way of doing that, as Dorian recently did. That was the second time for me that a trip was changed due to a massively destructive hurricane. Yet my altered schedule and flights were nothing compared to the impact on those in the path of the “monster”. Such nightmarish occurrences are something we never want to happen to us but to those in the Grand Bahama Islands and along the coast of the U.S. it is now their reality. Life will forever be altered for most who were touched by the storm.
The unexpected is likely to happen to you on occasion as well. And it may not be an act of Mother Nature that catches you off guard but may still be very impactful. I have frequently heard the expression “expect the unexpected”. Thinking about that expression makes me think about what it really means and how, if we did that, it would affect our lives. The concept seems unrealistic though it sounds great to be able to expect the unexpected. If you were able to do that, there would never really be any surprises. But how rational is it to think you can really be prepared for sudden disruptions in your personal or business life? Though they occur, planning for accidents is not normally how you likely operate. Indeed, accidents are mishaps.
Not wanting to over-simplify the concept, but unable to comprehend it any other way, expecting the unexpected can have all kinds of negative consequences. First, if you are a planner / goal setter, you are not likely to build unanticipated events or results into your plan. What kind of a plan would it be if you did? Would it be a focused plan with all the right ingredients to get you from A to B with the shortest route and timing? Of course not! So, if you do want to be one who anticipates the unpredictable you are also likely a person without a plan or someone who books multiple flights for each trip, just in case one route gets shut down. In addition, might you be someone always looking around for what is coming next? Thinking of that concept creates an impression of an environment that is a breeding ground for worry to me – if not for you – for those around you. As we all know, worrying is not a good thing.
So, what are you to do then, when the unforeseen is inevitable and will change your course in only a few pounding heartbeats? Should you be a cynic and continuously look around for what may happen next so to be better prepared for the surprise? Why then plan and focus on a specific goal if you know that major disruption could occur at any moment? Wouldn’t it be better to just relax and allow whatever happens to take you where it takes you and not plan or worry about any of it? The words be flexible, course correct and keep moving forward come to mind as wise alternatives.
I have an acquaintance who once became angry with me because I was goal-oriented and moved forward with some plans without his approval. The outcome of the planned effort (key words) were outstanding and “game-changing”, but because he was not involved, he was not happy with me. When I addressed his concern with the truth of the value of the initiative, his explanation to me was “I just let it happen, but you have to make it happen. In the end we get the same results.” You might imagine that we were in some disagreement over that notion and the fact is, I believe that he never would have accomplished what I did without both planning and effort.
Significant accomplishments may transpire without planning or intention from time to time, but I am not aware of them. The mindset of doing the “right things and good things will happen” is more the notion I prescribe. Having set a course and being knocked off course from time to time is a more productive mode of operation than having no course set at all. Jokingly, I have often said “If you don’t know where you are going, you can never be lost”. I don’t believe that! Setting expectations for yourself and then working to attain them seems a much greater path to take than allowing yourself to be tossed about like debris in the wind. Yes, the occasional storm will alter your path, but without making plans for the trip you may never partake of that once in a lifetime experience.