How To Overcome Adversity...Before It Even Arrives!

When I was fourteen years old I was invited to perform a magic act at my high school talent show.  This was my first opportunity to perform in front of the entire school and I was eager to impress them, so I created a magic demonstration that was sure to fit the bill.  It was my greatest creation up until that point, a piece I menacingly entitled: Acid Roulette. 
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Imagine the scene:  Five test tubes each filled with water except for one, which instead contained hydrochloric acid.  Colorless and odorless, the acid looked and smelled just like water—but was sure to not taste like water.  The idea was I’d be blindfolded as a member of the audience mixed up the test tubes, and then I would blindly drink from each of them leaving only the test tube with the acid untouched.  That was the idea.  (The ridiculous, absurd idea!

On the night of the talent show everything went perfectly according to plan—until something went wrong. The first test tube I drank from had the acid!  This was no joke!  I immediately spit it out tore off the blindfold and ran off the stage screaming for help!  The audience, not thinking I’d actually use real acid, thought that it was a joke and they proceeded to just laugh and laugh as I continued running around yelling for help.​

​While few people have actually attempted such an absurd stunt, as fallible beings we at times often approach our work in a similar way—with a woeful lack of preparation! 

I’ve been practicing magic now for over two decades and what I’ve come to understand is that a successful magic performance has far less to do with sleight of hand and misdirection, and instead has much more to do with being an expert in managing surprises (a lesson that my younger self took time to learn!). The ability to adapt to an ever-changing environment where anything and everything could go wrong (and usually does!) and still arrive at a positive result is what separates the amateurs from the pros.  And that, my friends, is real magic.

Magic coaches tell us that we should analyze every possible way that something could go wrong, and then practice our magic tricks as if we’ve made those mistakes.

While I’ve never piloted a plane, I have had my fair share of plane rides, and even jumped out of a couple of them.  I’m happy to say that this strategy of analyzing every possible outcome has kept me alive both times (mostly because I know myself enough to strap myself to someone who knows what they're doing!) FINAL THOUGHT We will never truly know how things will work out, but by analyzing all the possible outcomes there’s a good chance that we can still plan ahead for most of them so that, come what may, we’ll know how to steer the circumstances in our favor to achieve positive results.