There’s
an old saying I like, founded on the idea of making your preparations
for any scenario based on being ready for the worst to happen,
while at the same time allowing yourself to believe things will
be fine. I like it because it works as a great twist on what many
of you know to be my approach to the world: organized chaos. Make
the plans, be sure you have what you need, and then when the crazy
unexpected happens you can sit back and potentially enjoy it with
an approach involving soaking it in and letting things happen.
Another
way of thinking about it is this: Bet on the favorites.
(This
one needs to be done in two parts, especially since being prepared
for worst-case scenarios and wagering on things to go exactly
as expected hardly seem like peas in the sane pod.)
There’s
a reason for the expression bet on the favorite. It’s because
more often than not, the favorite is going to win. It doesn’t
mean that the underdog can’t win. Situations and circumstances
need to be factored in. The unexpected happens. But by and large,
the majority of the time, expect the expected.
Building
on that concept, we all understand that on an average day, for
average events, just about everything will play out as planned.
Simple. It doesn’t always work that way, and in virtually all
scenarios the better prepared you are for things to go sideways
the better you’ll be able to adjust in stride.
Are
we shocked by the unexpected? Hardly.
None
of this should come as much of a surprise. We say things like
“the sky is blue” as expressions with such certainty that they
become accepted as fact and even slide into the world of cliché.
And yet, even as we say it, we also understand that a thunderstorm
arriving will mean the sky at that time isn’t blue at all. Here
are the facts, here are the exceptions, but the sky is blue is
the reality and everyone nods in agreement.
Let’s
step a few rungs up on the ladder. There’s a big difference when
it comes to preparing for extremes between heading out to snowmobile
in remote areas of Alaska and stocking a spare bottle of spicy
mustard. And that’s sort of—kind of, at least almost—where all
of these ideas I’ve set into place overlap.
I
was fixing something outside the house and hadn’t brought a screwdriver
with me, or a couple of other tools I would eventually go inside
to retrieve. And while strolling the massively inconvenient hundred
or so extra steps I added to my day by not going into the garage
to get them to start with, I began thinking about what we decide
to do or not to do, when it happens intentionally and unintentionally,
and the results. For instance…
I
was already in the yard when I remembered that I wanted to check
out a window. A screen had popped loose, and I was on that side
of the house. Just a quick few steps between the front corner
and the back corner. So, even though I knew I might need a flathead
screwdriver, maybe a pair of pliers and possibly something else,
I decided to head over and take a look rather than walking all
the way to the opposite side of the house to get stuff from the
garage and then walk all the way back. I just wandered into the
back yard. Intentional decision. Result cost me less than five
minutes when I needed a screwdriver after all. Not a big deal.
But
when you’re really looking forward to having some mustard on your
hot dog, have it cooking on the grill, and you grab the mustard
from the fridge to find the bottle empty? That’s a bit more than
five minutes if you decide on a run to the store, or, a lot of
disappointment if you decide to just stay in place and settle.
The
reason this whole thing swirled into an essay was an errand I
was running the other day, and I got to the store before I realized
I had left my phone at home.
Cell
phones.
We
take them for granted. Almost as much a part of any journey from
the house as a set of keys. Twenty years ago (or longer), we wouldn’t
have had many alternatives to walking or finding a pay phone if
something happened. Now? No pay phones. If you can’t impose on
the kindness of strangers, it’s walking and walking only.
Sure,
part of it is the convenience an option like cell phones provides.
Great advancements and assistants for daily life. But I do think
we take many of them granted as well. They provide a bit of a
buffer—as we do things like tell electronic home assistants to
add things to our shopping list or turn off the lights or adjust
the thermostat—and I wonder on occasion if that makes us a bit
more forgetful. A bit more overly confident. Dare I say it—I dare,
I dare—we’re lazier and even careless compared to what we used
to be because we have safety nets that are supposed to catch us
when we fall.
Safety
nets don’t work that way. Safety nets aren’t supposed to set things
up so we can do something. They’re supposed to save us when something
goes wrong, usually so we can try again. Unfortunately, the lazy
and careless more likely than not didn’t set up the safety net
so that’s it’s there should they need it.