Expect the Unexpected

Murphy's Law: "Whatever Can Go Wrong Will." Maybe we should rename it Miller's Law. The universe has chosen to bestow on me in equal portions-- great luck and mishaps which are completely unexpected and which no one else in the world seems to experience. When I tour giving seminars or promoting my books, I usually fly to a different city every night. Inevitably when I arrive at the airport and look at the flight board my flight and only my flight is delayed or cancelled. So whenever I am speaking I make sure there is another flight leaving after the one I book that will still allow me to make my speech even if mine is cancelled. I kid you not but I recently had to use the second flight to get to a speech in Kansas City on time.

I am in Singapore at the moment. Today I was scheduled for a telephone interview on drive time radio. I am staying with a friend and gave his telephone number to the producer. I also gave the producer my cell number as a back up. Well, lo and behold, about five minutes after the interview was suppose to begin I get a call on my cell phone from the host saying that they had to cancel my spot. When the producer tried several times to call the telephone number I had given him a woman answered each time claiming not to know who I was. Why the producer did not call my cell phone is beyond me. However, when I called my friends number, sure enough the phone sitting in front of me did not ring and some woman answered. Apparently when my friend called the phone company to find out what was going on it turns out the wires were somehow crossed.

The moral of this story is that I should have called ahead of time to make sure my friends phone was working properly. (Okay perhaps anticipating that problem might be too much even for me to anticipate.) What I really should have done, in addition to giving the producer a back up number, was to get his direct number so I could have called when the producer's call failed to come through as scheduled. That way I would have been in control of the situation.

So what does this have to do with careers? Actually everything. Few of you will have my extraordinary level of impossible to anticipate (but fortunately minor) difficulties plaguing your life. However when it comes to your career all of you will have unexpected challenges. The key is to plan for them. If you have a critical meeting that you absolutely have to be at on time, drive the route ahead of time to anticipate any problems. Leave early anyway.

More importantly, statistically most people will be terminated from a job at one time or another in their life. Ask J.K. Rowling or Mayor Bloomberg. Both were fired from their jobs before they went on to be enormously successful. Everyone needs to have a plan in case that happens. Create a job search plan and have it ready just in case. Build and nourish your network. Have some money put away in reserve. Do those things before you need them. Expect the unexpected.