Flexible Rigidity Is a Good Plan
Today (7/26/24) was one of those days. You know the ones. You have it all planned and then…everything gets turned upside down.
Here’s how my day was planned:
Recurring 9:00 daily virtual meeting with my assistant, Emily. Writing this week’s solution. Follow up on construction projects. Friday’s week ending deposits. Pay some bills. Weekly review meeting. Shopping before going home. Family coming over for a movie marathon.
As I was on my way to the office I got a call from a sub-contractor. He had some questions. I told him I could meet him at the job site. I called Emily and we moved the meeting back.
While meeting with the sub, he said he was going to go to another of my projects after he finished this one. He hadn’t seen it yet and I needed to get him the material.
I called Emily again…we rescheduled again.
I met the sub. Went over the scope of the project. Went to the shop to look for material needed. Didn’t have what we needed. Went to the lumber yard and got what we needed. Delivered it to the sub.
Emily called and needed to run some errands…we rescheduled again.
Got to the office. Made out the deposit. Went to the bank and made the deposit. Stopped and fueled the pickup. Went to the rental property and put out a “rooms for rent” sign.
I was running behind and it was time to meet…we rescheduled again.
We combined our two meetings into one. I still needed to pay some bills and hadn’t even started writing. I still need to get to the store and get home for our movie marathon…and I haven’t even started the blog post yet.
So…to save some time, I’m going to use a previous post about flexible rigidity.
Here’s the previous post that is fitting after the day I’ve had:
I am an organizer and planner by nature. I like having a clear direction. A system in place to expedite those wonderfully crafted plans. Knowing what I’m going to do today.
But then…’life happens.’
You know what I mean. You’re going along, following those well-organized plans and then out of nowhere…something comes along and messes the whole thing up.
Just because I’m a planner doesn’t mean that I can’t be flexible, because I can. Sometimes maybe too much. It has always been pretty easy for me to make adjustments when something unexpected happens.
The problem with this is, getting derailed by distractions makes it hard to stay on task. Then of course that plan, that wonderfully crafted plan, is all messed up. For years I have worked to be better at balancing the plan and flexibility.
You may be on the other side and have the gift of doing. The ability to make a decision and move on it. You find it frustrating when the unexpected happens and you struggle to deal with it.
Knowing what character, personality and gifts you have is critical to being prepared in your own way to handle the unexpected.
I first wrote about this topic of being flexibly rigid back in 2016. It’s interesting that the instigation for that post was a brake line leaking on my truck. Now I’m writing about this again today, six years later.
Today’s situation involves brake lines and a whole lot more.
As I was turning into the church this past Sunday morning, I was rear ended. The accident knocked the rear axle out of the truck as well as causing some damage to the truck bed.
First and foremost, I’m grateful that neither I or the other driver were hurt…the vehicles didn’t fare so well.
Looking at the blessings is a great way to put things into perspective.
I’ve had this truck for twenty-two years and have put 523,000 miles on it, toward my goal of a million miles. People who know me, know that I like my truck…but ultimately, it’s just a truck.
Now, let’s look at how flexible rigidity works.
I need to start with considering my options –
- Is the truck repairable?
- If so, what’s it going to take to repair it?
- If so, is repairing it worth the cost?
- Is the insurance going to total the truck?
- How much is insurance going to pay?
After I get the answers to these questions and others. I will weigh the options, ask God for His thoughts and make a decision.
He is the Master Planner and it is important for our plans to align with His.
We need to determine what our priorities are before the scheduling fiascos happen. Figure out who we are and what we want, so we are ready when the unexpected happens.
This doesn’t mean that everything will go perfectly, but as we search for clarity and work through each schedule disruption…
We will get a little closer to being who we were designed to be.
Being flexibly rigid is the balance of staying on task while handling things when life happens.
