Recently, I encountered some unexpected issues in my business. I try hard to prepare for different situations, but this time I simply didn’t have the details to understand this potential problem well. We can’t predict everything, so what really matters is how we respond to the unexpected and unknown.

My reaction was far from great. I let myself fall into a state of desperation. The surprise of this situation, along with the anxiety that followed, put me in a strange place, and I started to clutch at anything that might help. I had abandoned my planned approach and switched to a desperate one.

I didn’t do it on purpose, obviously, but it happened anyway. I don’t think anyone truly decides to utilize a strategy of desperation, but occasionally we find ourselves there. For those of you who have been there, you know that desperation is a cheap and stinky cologne. It does no one any favors and usually results in rash and pretty crappy decisions.

Instead of putting my brain in a half nelson trying to imagine every possible scenario or possibility, I decided to put some guidelines in place that help govern my response to the inevitable unknown that is bound to creep up from time to time.

Accept my inability to know everything

I have a tendency to view my responsibility to mitigate potential problems as a testing of my mettle as a business person. Having accepted that there will ALWAYS be things that come up I have no way of knowing, I decided to adjust the expectations I place on myself as a little more realistic.

Be authentic to who I am (or want to be)

I was responding to the uncertainty of the problem. I wasn’t allowing it to be an opportunity for me to fortify who I’m developing myself to be as an individual. Each time something unexpected comes my way, I can reference the values and character I want to govern my life and then respond to the challenge according to those things instead of allowing my anxiety to govern my actions.

Don’t diminish the value of others in my response

When things go awry, it can often happen at the hands of others. Perhaps they were mistaken in their assessment of things or they simply didn’t follow through on their responsibilities. Of course there has to be a level of accountability, but in the exercise of accountability I don’t have the right to diminish them simply because of my inconvenience. This is one of the most difficult character traits I’ve had to develop.

Understand that the world isn’t ending with any one event

I have been through a number of challenges in my day and I’m still here with no one dead in my wake. While contextually and circumstantially things may be amazingly inconvenient, you will recover. We aren’t defined by what happens to us but by how we choose to respond to them. It may seem like the biggest thing in the world but, from a healthier perspective, life does go on.

What are some of the things that you do to make sure you respond to the unknown well?