How to keep your practice going when Chaos strikes

“Oh No! This is terrible. Now I will have to work late in order to get the report finished on time and have it ready for tomorrow morning.” Alice discovers while validating the data that the report is based on that there is a flaw in the calculations. “All of the data will need to be checked and confirmed that it is correct. This is going to take hours and hours.”

Chaos has hit Alice at the worst possible time. Tonight is the night that she is going to yoga class with her practice buddy. They are working on a challenge to attend more classes in a week. This bit of chaos will make it difficult for her to meet the challenge.

What is Chaos

Chaos is events that happen in your life that are outside of your control that disrupt your plans. Discovering a flaw in the report is a bit of chaos that just happened to Alice and it is preventing her from making to her yoga class tonight.

Chaos appears in many forms.

• bad weather can prevent you from getting to class. A heavy snow fall, a hurricane.
• A family crisis can happen that Alice needs to resolve. The baby sitter cancelled at the last minute.
• The traffic accident, or the car breaking down.

Any of these events and many others can prevent you from making it to yoga class as you planned.

There are a few things that you can do when Chaos strikes that will help Alice to still meet her yoga challenge. Alice can put some plans in place anticipating that Chaos is going to happen sometime.

How to create a Chaos Plan

There are three things that Alice needs to include in her Chaos Plan.

1 – Expect it

Alice needs to expect that chaos is always going to happen. About a third of Alice`s plans are going to be disrupted by events outside of her control. The data being bad for report that Alice is preparing is outside of her control.

Once you take the approach that life is not perfect and that you should expect Chaos to happen you need to take the next step in the Chaos planning process and make some plans.

2 – Plan for it

In this step of the planning process you need to make some plans that include chaos happening.

Now that Alice is including Chaos in her plans she is including an extra yoga class in her schedule. Now if Chaos should strike during the week and she has to miss the yoga class tonight because of the extra time she has to spend at work she will have the extra class she can attend later in the week.

She will still make her goal for the week because she anticipated that Chaos would happen and booked an additional yoga class in her schedule. As long as Chaos does not strike again this week Alice will be okay.

Another way for planning for chaos is to allow time in your drive to the yoga studio. Allow time for the traffic jam. Allow time for that last minute request at work.

Alice has always allowed time for the unexpected to happen as she is leaving work or during the trip to the yoga studio. When Chaos does happen on the way, she is not stressed or concerned about being late for yoga class. The Chaos time that she has allowed for just means that she will not be as early as she normally is.

Allowing for Chaos in your schedule is one way to be prepared, another way is to have a support team in place.

3 – Have a support team

Alice’s support team helps to make sure that she gets to yoga class every night.

If the baby sitter should cancel at the last minute, she has an alternate available to step in at a moments notice. Her Mom is really supportive that way.

Alice has a practice buddy that she goes to yoga class with. They alternate driving each other to yoga class. If Alice can not drive to yoga class, she can rely on her practice buddy to pick her up.

Because of the Chaos plans that Alice has put in place, Alice is able to make her yoga commitment for the week. There are many other benefits to a Chaos plan besides meeting your objective.

What are the benefits of having a Chaos plan

Once you have a Chaos plan in place you will be less panicked or stressed when Chaos does eventually strike. Alice looks at the plans that she has in place and uses the right part to counter act the Chaos.

Alice can remain relaxed and calm even if her chaos plan does not allow her to get to class tonight. Alice has an alternate class that she can attend later in the week and still meet her goal.

One of the things about Chaos is that it is always unexpected. You can not plan for Chaos to happen on Wednesday night every week. Chaos is going to happen when you least expect and then at other times there is going to be no chaos at all.

What if Chaos does not happen this week

If Chaos does not happen this week then you have an extra yoga class booked into your schedule. You can do one of two things.

You can go to the extra yoga class and get even more benefit from your yoga this week or you could take the time off for yourself and do something else all together.

You benefit from your Chaos plan even when Chaos does not happen.

What if the Chaos plan does not help

Some times even the best laid plans will not help. One of these times your Chaos plan is going to fail and you are not going to make your yoga practice goal for the week.

Now is the time to examine your Chaos plan and the bit of chaos or the multiple bits of chaos that happened. What changes can you make to your plan to handle this new type of chaos.

Change your Chaos plan and next time you will be better prepared.

Summary

One of Alice’s team members looks at the data problem with the report. “I can fix this problem just as easily as you” Bob says “I have nothing planned for this evening. You need to get to yoga class tonight. I will take care of this. You get to your class.“

“Thanks so much for doing this Bob! I will make it up to you the next time that you need help.” Alice grabs her yoga mat and bag and heads out the door to yoga class.

Having a Chaos plan that includes extra time, additional events and a support team will help you to reach your goal.

Next Step

Do you have a Chaos plan in place yet? Start creating your plan today before Chaos strikes.