Yesterday morning I left the house and began a 2-hour drive to an event I was speaking at. About 30 minutes into it, my car received the blessing of a flat tire.
Awesome.
Any speaker will tell you that one of their biggest fears is missing an engagement. I’m no different. So I pulled over and my first thought was…
“I hope I can change a tire.”
“PANIC…OMG…I’M NEVER GOING TO MAKE IT. WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!”
“This is going make a great story!”
I changed the tire, got back on the road, drove about 10 miles and pulled into a little hole-in-the-wall tire shop. They put two new tires on the front and I was back on the road in less than 10 minutes. I got to the event location, set my bag down, and walked right on stage to begin. It all worked out just fine.
And as I was driving back, I was reminded of some simple lessons from the experience…
- Control What You Can, But Don’t Panic About What You Can’t Control – Flat tires happen. That’s life. There was no sense in freaking out and falling apart. I just got out of the car, changed the tire, and got going again.
- Your Attitude Will Make Or Break A Situation – Is the glass half-full or half-empty? Everybody handles “crisis” differently but your attitude and perception of that situation can make things a lot better or a lot worse.
- An Emergency Fund Makes “Emergencies” Feel More Like Inconveniences – I talked recently about another car issue and how thankful I was to have our emergency fund. When I had to spend $155 on tires, it wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t a crisis. Why? Because we have an emergency fund for situations such as this. It’s a lot less stressful when you’re prepared for the emergency before it happens.
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2 Comments
Instead of fretting, think “This is going to make a great story.” A good “Aha!” moment for me, thanks Grant!
Very timely….had a major crisis at work today and your observations are very correct. Thanks, Grant