Anticipating The Unexpected

By admin

We have talked about the unexpected in the context of meetings throughout this part of our little book, and we know that the meeting is to the unexpected as a Petri dish is to bacteria—a fertile breeding ground. Even the phrase anticipating the unexpected seems contradictory. How do we anticipate something we do not expect? The answer is that we do not. We do not anticipate what unexpected events will occur, but simply that they will occur. With this attitude, the unexpected is manageable.

Because we have done our planning, have the proper materials at hand, and have prepared and anticipated the environment, we are pretty confident of our ability to participate. Furthermore, because we have this attitude of confident indifference to the meeting outcomes, unanticipated events take on a new role. Let’s analyze this. Unexpected events will only affect meeting outcomes (which do not matter) and we have our part of the activity well planned and prepared. Therefore, we are comfortable and participating in an activity whose outcomes are unimportant. Now, what is a good definition for an activity in which we are comfortable and whose outcome is relatively unimportant? Entertainment! And that’s the key to handling unanticipated events: just treat them as entertainment, because that is precisely what they are.

We know that unexpected events will occur and that they will be entertaining. So we are ready for them. We don’t know what they will be, and we don’t care. Let them come about and entertain us, and we will deal with them when they do. It’s as simple as that.