The Unexpected

Thursday, 21st October 2010 13:40 - by Boredmum

This morning I was out cycling a little earlier than normal; at 6.30 a.m. It was also a little colder than usual. There is a particular hill that has been getting the better of me. I have succeeded twice so far in cycling to the top. Other times, I have quit and taken a side-road as it has been too difficult. Now I know I need to get my fitness up and figured this morning that I just had to tackle this hill again. As I had done it twice before as mentioned, I knew that I could do it. Full of determination, I cycled towards the hill, cycled part of it and changed down a gear as it got harder, cycled a bit more, feeling really confident and knowing that I was going to do it…and was going to then keep doing it until such a time that it became easy. Time for another gear change and ‘clank’... ...the chain had come off my bike. So, I started putting it back on and I struggled. Every time I thought I had it and rotated the pedals, it came off again. Eventually, I had to accept that I just wasn’t going to accomplish this hill-climb today. I turned, got on my bike and just trundled to the bottom of the hill. At the bottom of the hill, I started cycling and discovered that my chain had corrected itself. I just had to cycle home and try the hill another time. Sometimes in life, it doesn’t matter how much motivation, determination, or preparation we have. Sometimes things happen that are just totally out of our control and there is nothing that we can do to avoid it. In the stock market, there is always something; a placing, the loss of a lucrative contract or a drilling failure. There is always something happening out of your control. I think I now know this more than anything, and the positives are that I am looking more for the downside so that hopefully it isn’t totally unexpected. It pays to look at your companies with a negative stance and work out the downside. There is always a downside. Don’t let it be unexpected.