As I got off a plane recently, I overheard a woman who was on the phone preparing for a scheduled teleconference. Her poor colleague was informed that she was running late due to the flight, her battery was at 4 percent, and (oh by the way) what was the conference number and can everyone wait until she plugs in because she would hate to get cut off and miss anything.

Things happen, but how often do we find ourselves in untenable positions because we are running too close to a margin for error?

A good deal of success is managing conditions so that conditions do not manage us.