Sometimes, even the best laid plans…maybe even ‘the perfect’ ones – FAIL. In today’s unpredictable environment it can surely be a challenge to plan for all contingencies. Sometimes everything may be good; the plan, the product, the service, the idea…and it is simply just not the right time. I can share that for me personally, the biggest challenge I have faced in business is when I am 100% convinced about a new technology or product that pretty much nobody else was looking for – curing pains that nobody know exist is a risky adventure! Did you know 40% of all new products fail!? Looking back, some of these products were just plain ol’ BAD ideas from the get go…while others were simply offered at the wrong time. Nevertheless, the question remains “Now what?” after your idea/plan flopped?
Well, already we know we are in good company simply due to the fact 40% of everyone else’s products flopped. So I would suggest we ask the really difficult question “What are we willing to do that our opponent is not? Mark Cuban says “you gotta work like someone else is working 24 hours a day to take everything away from you” So, are you willing to keep going? Even after all the sacrifices you made fell flat? Even after you feel like someone gut punched you and you can’t breathe?
In the bible we are encouraged to persevere; from the book of Proverbs verse 16: “For a righteous person falls seven times and rises again…” Of course that number may vary up or down, but the point the bible makes is that as believers, we are bigger than our circumstances. Or as it says in Proverbs 4, “we are more than conquerors.” So we have the power God gives us to persevere and press on.
Oftentimes the phrase “rock bottom” has some sort of negative connotation to it. I would like to suggest a different perspective. Hitting “rock bottom” doesn’t mean you have no options left, it means you have simply had ENOUGH and you are going to take whatever necessary steps there are to avert the situation. A “catalyst” is when you have no further reason to stay on the path you’ve been following. For example when Luke Skywalker’s foster parents are killed and he has no home to return to, so decides to join the rebellion. A common catalyst (for those of us who deal with addiction) is finding our ‘Rock Bottom’ – it isn’t something that someone else can give us, or explain to us, we have to find it on our own. And then, we can be on the “better” side of the circumstance. One thing that might encourage you during your recovery is to realize that the only way things will be ‘better’ is to realize at some point, things had to actually be “bad.” One thing is FOR SURE: Staying in the ‘bad’ mode, simply WILL NOT yield a single good, different or better change! Only moving forward can ever help that.
I came up with a checklist that can be applied to several circumstances in life. I call it the “Oh Crap! Now What? Plan”
- Why? (What happened for you to end up here? )
- What are you doing to keep it from happening again?
- Could the circumstance ever change on it’s own?
- What is a better alternative?
- What is your first logical step?
- Is that a healthy/wise choice?
- Is it sustainable?
The most solid, long-lasting, life-altering decisions we make are usually made during our heightened emotional state. Be sure you are making useful/wise resolutions, they can go both ways. If you are wise, you will use the event to solidify a new plan or mindset that will result in a better future for you. Don’t be afraid to make some very REAL decisions and “plot twists” in the midst of your shock. Just because something doesn’t turn out the way we’d hoped or planned, doesn’t always indicate that it has to stay “bad” – with one simple action it can be “better” in a matter of seconds.