“Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden
Have you noticed that some truths sink in immediately and others take some time to circle around before they land? About six months ago, I listened to a podcast featuring Angus Fletcher who is the Professor of Story Science at Ohio State University talk about planning. Then I read his book, Primal Intelligence: You Are Smarter Than You Know.
Here’s what I took away from how he characterized planning. When we have no plan, we are afraid (and depressed). When we have one plan, we tend to get angry because anger is fuel for making it happen the ONE way we have planned. But when we have multiple plans or ways to get something done, we are more likely to get to an outcome.
It wasn’t until I recently lived through a travel crisis that I truly understood what Professor Fletcher meant. When a plan goes wrong, how do you stay calm, resilient, and brave enough to keep trying?
In this episode of The Life of Try, I share the story of a chaotic family travel day from Paris to England—missed trains, wrong directions, tired kids, unexpected costs, and the kind of uncertainty that can make anyone want to give up.
Through this real-life story, I explore how adaptability, creative problem-solving, gratitude, and “one next step” thinking can help us recover when our best-laid plans fall apart.
Here are three takeaways that helped me:
- One-thing at a time: Our bad travel day started on train #2 on a day when we needed five trains to get where we were going. I couldn’t fix the whole route at once so I was forced to just handle one step of the journey at a time.
- Regrouping: There is a Five Guys Burger at the Paris train station. No kidding, I think it saved my life – or at least my sanity.
- Gratitude: Counting all the days and things that had gone right for our trip helped put in perspective the day that went wrong.
Inspired by Professor Fletcher’s work on resilience and alternative plans, this episode is for anyone navigating change, setbacks, anxiety, mishaps, or the messy middle of trying something new.
Listen in for an honest reminder that trying does not require certainty—it only asks for movement, one breath and one new plan at a time.
Here are some other ways you can listen and watch this episode:
- The podcast player embedded below
- Click this link to watch in a browser: When Your Plan Falls Apart: How to Stay Resilient and Keep Trying
- Subscribe to The Life of Try on Spotify, Amazon Music, or Apple Podcasts
- Subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thelifeoftry
Links for this episode:
When Plans Fall Apart Transcript
Primal Intelligence: You Are Smarter Than You Know by Angus Fletcher on Amazon
🎥 Other episodes you might enjoy
➡️ How to Create Opportunities in Life | Motive + Means = Success Mindset
➡️ Encouraging Effort, Not Results | How to Build Resilience and Confidence
➡️ How to Celebrate Small Wins | Tiny Habits, Resilience & Personal Growth
(featured photo from Pexels)
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