Life is unpredictable. I know you’ve heard that before, but it bears repeating…and repeating. As we grow older, we think we know stuff. That’s natural. It started when we were children – every time we learned something, we knew we were a little smarter and, by the same token, that we had ascended another stair on the way to knowing everything we needed to know. And, of course, knowing stuff means we think we know what to expect.
Odds, Averages, and Best Guesses
I haven’t lived in Oklahoma long enough to really know what’s normal for the weather, but I sure didn’t think that reaching 92º on the first day of spring was normal! As many parts of the country experienced in March, the weather has been crazy lately. As it happens, that day broke the high temperature record set back in 1907 (which incidentally is the year Oklahoma became the 46th State). Nope, the “average temperature” for March 20th is 64º.
Averages, after all, are calculated from highs and lows. There are no guarantees that any particular occurrence will be near an average – it could be high or low, almost normal or not even close. I think of gambling that way too. You can have excellent strategies toward any game of chance, but you can’t eliminate the element of chance.
Business is like that too. You can be very smart. You can have an excellent plan for supporting and growing your company…but you will always have to react to the surprises. An excellent strategy is your best bet for weathering the storms and being successful, but how you handle the unexpected will teach you a lot.
What Oklahoma and Vegas have in Common
Life in Oklahoma, life in Vegas, and life in wherever you happen to be at this moment all have that one, inescapable thing in common – there is always that element of unpredictability. We’ll never know everything, even if we think or act like we do. But, what Vegas teaches us is equally important – remember to enjoy the ride!