Maybe I am really the unluckiest person in the world, but despite my efforts to check everything twice often enough things still don't go as planned. I'm sure it happens to everyone at least sometimes.  Please say it's so. Because of this curse that hangs over me, I have learned to always have a Plan B, a fallback. I call it my rabbit hole.  All our ground living mammals have a back door as an emergency exit just in case that hungry fox is waiting for dinner at the front door.  I suppose it's kind of like being overprepared for everything or trying to anticipate the unexpected in advance. People have sometimes told me it's a waste of time and energy, but when they have benefited from it there isn’t a word out of them. I'm almost never late for anything because I plan for the unpredictable. I always have a paper map with me when driving despite having a cellphone and navigation in my dashboard. I carry a spare pen cartridge in my bag even though that new cartridge I put in my Cross pen yesterday should last three months, except when it doesn't. I almost never have to make an excuse for not being able to do something as I am always prepared to get things done, one way (Plan A) or the other (Plan B).

In business, I would be tasked with putting together an Excel spreadsheet deck for a new proposal. There would be very specific points we were expected to cover. As well, I would always try to anticipate what kind of information someone might need even if it wasn't requested. It might have taken a couple extra hours to add in. While presenting and reviewing the deck at a meeting with top executives from some Fortune 500 company, partway through the presentation someone, usually the head guy or gal who had nothing to do with preparing the request for bid, would interrupt and ask what about this or that. I would reply, "Well if you go to the back of the deck and look at Addendum A, I think that answers your question." There was the shuffling of papers and then silence as everyone read through my extra credit question. My company sealed more deals by being overprepared thanks to my anticipating the unexpected. "I'll have to get back to you," doesn't score any extra points.

Back in my youth hockey days as an Athletic Trainer, there was a boy on the team with asthma. It scared the hell out of me when he had an attack on the bench during a game and couldn't take in any air. It was troubling, and I never looked forward to it. Early in the season, his Mom gave me a bottle of Marax tablets, a reliable remedy for asthma flareups in the 70s. But I was always overprepared and planned for the unexpected. I purchased a small oxygen tank and mask to carry in my Trainers’ bag. When he had an attack, I would give him a Marax and he would lie down on the bench waiting for it to pass. But that oxygen tank was within arm's reach just in case. It’s always good to have a Plan B.

Plan ahead for the unexpected. Don't be that person who’s always making excuses for being late, or unprepared, or uninformed. If you “expect” things to go wrong or off-track, you can prepare for them in advance. It will give you more confidence and relieve stress knowing that you can handle almost any unexpected outcome.