Managing the Bad News Tail

Most things in life fit on a bell curve. The vast majority of events fit in the big, boring middle bulge, but wise people understand that stuff occasionally happens in the happy “good news” tail to the right and also in the unhappy “bad news” tail to the left.

The “bad news” tail is what can kill you, so it’s important to know how to manage it. You know that bad things are going to happen– you’ll get sick, you’ll break a wrist, you’ll have a house fire, your industry will get sideswiped, your goldfish will escape, the world will end…. It’ll be ugly.

Although you don’t get much say about when bad stuff comes your way, you do have some control over how you manage the outcome. One of the keys is preparation. Let’s consider some examples.

Let’s say you’re submitting an insurance claim after a total fire loss. Aren’t you glad that you had a thorough and fresh inventory, including digital photographs? And aren’t you especially glad you kept a copy at your sister’s house?

And aren’t you glad you backed up all your scanned documents (you do scan all the important stuff, right?), family pictures and other key files and kept the backup drive at your office?

When you’ve been felled by a stroke and can’t communicate, aren’t you glad you had appointed a substitute decision maker who really cares for you and isn’t afraid to be your champion?

And after your company is served with a lawsuit, aren’t you glad your lawyer dances with delight when she sees the extensive and careful documentation in your files?

When you hear your cousin whining about his boring job, aren’t you glad you took the time to plan and to learn so that you got yourself into a calling that you truly love?

And aren’t you glad you took the time and spent the energy to teach your kids right from wrong, patience from intemperance, love from hate? Now when they’re young adults and facing the storms of life, they have the grounding that they need.

I’m so glad that a couple of years before we “retired”, Karen and I got away for a long weekend just to talk about what we would do with ourselves when that day finally arrived. Out of a very long conversation came my Career 3.0 of speaking, writing and consulting. I’ve never had so much fun in my life!

Now, do yourself a favour– pick one important eventuality for which you need to prepare, then commit to your significant other when you will have that in hand.