Do you get irritated or anxious when life throws you a curveball in the middle of your busy day? You have your time blocked and your to do list locked and loaded (with little margin for error) and then BAM! Joke’s on you!!

You aren’t actually going to do the thing you thought you were going to do at 10:00 am or even that day. Nope. You are going to do something else instead! OR, you do the thing and it is an epic fail?!

I have many stories I could share along these lines from the last few weeks, but I will share one about the podcast.

Last week, I had a podcast interview scheduled with a very busy entrepreneur. Erika Biddix is the Owner of Biddix Meetings & Events and the Founder of Aught Entrepreneurs.

We were recording the podcast at the still under construction (at the time) second location of Aught Coworking in Downtown Knoxvillle.

Incidentally, I will have an office at this location and I am beyond excited!! We were using this interview as a bit of a test run for recording the podcast there.

We were both running late for a 12:30 pm interview. I was coming in from a site-based coaching session and had to stop by the house to pick up additional recording equipment that I had forgotten when I packed up the night before.

Erika is spinning all of the plates right now with a second office location opening soon, pitches for her meetings and event business, public speaking gigs and three kiddos (we can relate in sooooo many ways).

I ordered some lunch for the both of us en route, told Erika to breathe, and decided to eat first and then record. I am a well-being coach after all. I pushed my 2:00 pm meeting to 2:15 pm.

We started recording about an hour late (1:30ish). The conversation was going flowing really well and we were uncovering some awesome nuggets to share with our listeners.

And at 2:06 pm, I looked down and realized . . . I hadn’t hit the record button . . .

Erika burst into laughter–literally rolling on the floor– for a number of minutes. We were sitting on the floor to record since there wasn’t any furniture yet so it wasn’t too far to go. For her I think the moment was the icing on the cake on an already stressful and chaotic day.

I, on the other hand, sat stunned; leaning against the wall with my eyes closed until I gathered myself for my 2:15 pm coaching session.

The irony in the story is that I had already asked a member of my team to talk me off of the proverbial ledge earlier in the week because my own schedule has been so packed that I hadn’t had the bandwidth to write and record an episode in time for its scheduled Thursday release.

Even though I knew most people were unlikely to notice, and that the world would keep spinning on its axis if the podcast was four days late, I had a hard time letting go.

And then #epicrecordingfail.

I’ll be honest and say that I am not yet sure why the podcast didn’t work last week. But I do know this.

Time and time again, when things don’t work out the way I think they will (or should)–when the meeting gets cancelled or rescheduled, when a kid gets sick and needs to go to the doctor, when the project timeline has to be adjusted, when the deliverable doesn’t get done as anticipated or the trip gets delayed–there is often a gift hidden in there somewhere.

Maybe you get breathing room you knew you needed but thought you couldn’t afford to take.

Maybe you learn something that adds value to the project you are working on.

Maybe the forced reconsideration of your calendar commitments or your to do list helps you realize that changes can and should be made.

Maybe the extra space or change in perspective sparks an idea or creative solution.

Maybe on the other side of life’s interference you find your productivity, well-being, or work product are better than they would have been otherwise.

The discomfort is in the holding on too tight.

In spinning the stories in your head about the catastrophe that will follow if xyz doesn’t get done by 00:00 on the mark.

In the failure to release the things we cannot control and allowing our desperation to spiral into oblivion.

In missing out on the gifts that are often inherent when things don’t work the way we think they should.

I find that life flows more easily (and my stress level is much more manageable) when I release the should’s, allow things to be as they are, and look for the gifts in the process.

When is the last time YOU discovered a gift in an unlikely package?

Here’s to more flow. And to hitting the record button next time.

Love,

Booth

p.s. Fingers crossed that there will be a new podcast episode next week!