Tired of Changing Plans?

Sometimes we intentionally change our plans, other times circumstances cause the change.  I had Monday afternoon through Wednesday afternoon carefully planned to accommodate a board meeting, birthday celebration, dental appointment, 2nd board meeting, travel to Austin, Austin event, travel to Houston and Houston event.

I walked to my car with just enough time to make it to the first of these 8 commitments. That quickly changed as I noticed that my right rear tire was flat. With this unexpected change of plans I emailed the CEO and Board Chair just before calling roadside assistance.  Ben arrived within 30 minutes and mounted the spare in a flash.  Minutes later, we heard a loud, startling bang.  The valve on my spare blew.  He determined that there was a very slow leak in my right rear tire and inflated it to the maximum allowed then remounted it to allow me to safely reach the tire store.  My first board meeting was replaced by three trips to two different tire stores over a punctuated 13-hour period, allowing me to honor all seven additional commitments.

No one other than a tire store or manufacturer likes tire problems.  However, I was most thankful for the timing of my problem.  In any other scenario during this tightly scheduled agenda, my tire problem would have presented itself on a freeway rather than in my parking garage. 

Regardless of how carefully we plan, the way we embrace the unexpected colors our view of the world and others' views of us.  Ranting and raving doesn't get us back on track.  Flexibly executing an alternate plan does.