How Do You Respond to the Unexpected?

Your response to the unexpected can be the difference between success and failure.

Regardless of how well you prepare, you will be confronted with uncertainty, failure, and plenty of surprises. When I told my brother, Gerry, that I was going to go into the cookie business, he said, “You’ve got to remember that success and failure go hand in hand. You cannot predict what will happen, but you have to take the chance. The worst thing that can happen is that you fail and go back into the clothing business.”

Well, I certainly could not have guessed that my partner, Arthur, and I would forget potholders on opening day and burn the first batch of cookies so badly that they caught fire in the oven, bringing fire trucks to the mall.

Six weeks later, I could not anticipate that I would be nearly killed in a motorcycle accident. And I never expected that during my 1983 race from Savannah to San Diego that I would be knocked off my bicycle by a dust devil in Arizona and break my collarbone.

Instead of giving up or feeling sorry for myself (though I wanted to do both), I learned to anticipate multiple outcomes, remain agile, and keep my sense of humor. To this day, I cannot look at a potholder without smiling.

Facing the unexpected is often a great learning opportunity, even though it may not feel like it at the time. As the noted golfer Bobby Jones once said, “I never learned anything from a match I won.” 

Time To Get Tough Published by UGA Press