Publisher column: The ceiling/floor theory

There’s a certain comfort in knowing what comes next. It’s why you might watch a movie over and over or pick up a familiar book for a few minutes at the end of a bad day.

The problem is, of course, that we often don’t know what truly lies ahead. Not in a car, at a job or even inside our own bodies.

It’s a scary proposition and one that reminds me of the scene in “Days of Thunder” when Nicole Kidman’s character tells Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise) that, “Control is an illusion, you infantile egomaniac. Nobody knows what’s going to happen next.”

I wasn’t planning to put it quite so harshly, but learning how to deal with uncertainty is a part of life.

It’s a lesson we’ve all gotten during the pandemic, and it’s one that keeps popping up in my journey as a business owner. We make a plan, quickly realize that plan is junk, then scurry around while trying to make a new one.

It’s a process that has taught me what I like to call the ceiling/floor theory. In a given situation, I ask, “What’s the best thing that can happen, and what’s the worst?” The best thing, clearly, would be the ceiling while the worst would be the floor.

We try to decide if we can we live with the floor and determine our chances of reaching the ceiling. Then, we move forward.

It’s not perfect, but at least it gives us to chance to consider multiple possible outcomes.

Besides, in order for a movie to become your favorite movie, you have to watch it that first time. Something great could always be just around the corner.