DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING
A #TRUTHBETOLD BLOG
PUBLISHED: July 5, 2023
If you know me, you know the term "uber-organized" is not one of my most endearing qualities. Let's face it, if it wasn't for the help of my very patient bride and some very patient friends (and a little ADHD medication), there's a better chance of it snowing tomorrow in northwest Louisiana than there is of me knocking out a simple to-do list (and the high tomorrow is 104 degrees). With that reality in mind, I will admit, I am trying! Apps at my fingertips on my ole trusty iPhone help me along the way, and the other day, the trusty calendar made sure that I showed up at 9am to speak to a room full of Warriors.
Here I am, standing there, ready to talk to a bunch of leaders about what makes their leadership lasting and effective, when myself and another guy realize that we were scheduled to speak at the same time to the same folks. So we both double checked the calendar, the invite, and the text confirmations, and sure enough, we were double booked (at no fault of anyone, it was a simple mistake).
Now here's the thing, I had some choices to make. What am I going to do with this extra hour? Am I going to get mad at the fact that someone made a simple mistake? Are we going to short change both of our talks and cram two hour long talks into an hour? We're both now faced with, you guessed it, an interruption to the plan.
How many times does something like that happen in your world? You're going about your day and all of a sudden, out of your control, your plans change. Maybe it's small. Maybe it's big. Maybe it's somewhere in the middle. Sometimes they're simply things we can brush off. Sometimes they're actually things you we're hoping would get interrupted. And yet, sometimes, they really upset the apple cart of our day, week, or maybe even month, or longer.
Nobody in our corner of the world in good ole NW Louisiana expected the catastrophic failure of the Barksdale Bubble back a couple weeks ago during the wee hours of the morning. But sure enough, if you managed to sleep through the storm that blew through at about 1:30am and brought with it 100+ mile an hour winds, you more than likely woke up to a pretty big interruption in your life (let's just say that storm hit two weeks ago and they are STILL working on getting people's power restored. Oh, and did I mention, the high tomorrow is 104 degrees?!?!) Over 300,000 people woke up to a pretty big...ahem...INTERRUPTION.
Whether it's literal storms that wreck shop on our homes and property, and create chaos we were not expecting, or whether it's some other storm of life that hits, or even if it's a simple detour or double booking, I want to throw this out there...
What if the "I wasn't expecting that" or the "that didn't go as planned" or even the "that wasn't on my bingo card" moment is actually something that puts you right in the middle of where you need to be?
I'll wrap up with this...
That extra hour I got while my friend was giving his talk was not wasted. You see, when I made my way over to the folks who were in charge of the event, I immediately found myself face-to-face with a guy I've known for a while, but haven't seen in a while. Here's the point, that extra time I now had because of that interruption to my plan, that walk I walked to talk to the folks in charge, the willingness to let the other group do their talk, all of that (and probably a few things I haven't even thought of yet) all made way for what would end up being a talk that both of us NEEDED. The simple "how are things" and "how's the family" quickly led us deeper and deeper into conversation that I know for me inspired me beyond imagination. And you never know, one man-to-man heart-felt bro-talk MIGHT just have more of a lasting ripple effect than if I got to talk to the room full of Warriors.
I don't know, and I never will, but I do know this, you can't compare "what ifs". You can't rewind and avoid the interruption. But, when ANY interruption hits, what you can do is slow down a little, look around, get your footing if need be, and do the next right thing (as Anna would say in Frozen 2...and don't make fun of me, I have a three year old. 😜)
-Trey McGuire
Here I am, standing there, ready to talk to a bunch of leaders about what makes their leadership lasting and effective, when myself and another guy realize that we were scheduled to speak at the same time to the same folks. So we both double checked the calendar, the invite, and the text confirmations, and sure enough, we were double booked (at no fault of anyone, it was a simple mistake).
Now here's the thing, I had some choices to make. What am I going to do with this extra hour? Am I going to get mad at the fact that someone made a simple mistake? Are we going to short change both of our talks and cram two hour long talks into an hour? We're both now faced with, you guessed it, an interruption to the plan.
How many times does something like that happen in your world? You're going about your day and all of a sudden, out of your control, your plans change. Maybe it's small. Maybe it's big. Maybe it's somewhere in the middle. Sometimes they're simply things we can brush off. Sometimes they're actually things you we're hoping would get interrupted. And yet, sometimes, they really upset the apple cart of our day, week, or maybe even month, or longer.
Nobody in our corner of the world in good ole NW Louisiana expected the catastrophic failure of the Barksdale Bubble back a couple weeks ago during the wee hours of the morning. But sure enough, if you managed to sleep through the storm that blew through at about 1:30am and brought with it 100+ mile an hour winds, you more than likely woke up to a pretty big interruption in your life (let's just say that storm hit two weeks ago and they are STILL working on getting people's power restored. Oh, and did I mention, the high tomorrow is 104 degrees?!?!) Over 300,000 people woke up to a pretty big...ahem...INTERRUPTION.
Whether it's literal storms that wreck shop on our homes and property, and create chaos we were not expecting, or whether it's some other storm of life that hits, or even if it's a simple detour or double booking, I want to throw this out there...
What if the "I wasn't expecting that" or the "that didn't go as planned" or even the "that wasn't on my bingo card" moment is actually something that puts you right in the middle of where you need to be?
I'll wrap up with this...
That extra hour I got while my friend was giving his talk was not wasted. You see, when I made my way over to the folks who were in charge of the event, I immediately found myself face-to-face with a guy I've known for a while, but haven't seen in a while. Here's the point, that extra time I now had because of that interruption to my plan, that walk I walked to talk to the folks in charge, the willingness to let the other group do their talk, all of that (and probably a few things I haven't even thought of yet) all made way for what would end up being a talk that both of us NEEDED. The simple "how are things" and "how's the family" quickly led us deeper and deeper into conversation that I know for me inspired me beyond imagination. And you never know, one man-to-man heart-felt bro-talk MIGHT just have more of a lasting ripple effect than if I got to talk to the room full of Warriors.
I don't know, and I never will, but I do know this, you can't compare "what ifs". You can't rewind and avoid the interruption. But, when ANY interruption hits, what you can do is slow down a little, look around, get your footing if need be, and do the next right thing (as Anna would say in Frozen 2...and don't make fun of me, I have a three year old. 😜)
-Trey McGuire