What to Do When Your Life Is Delayed

Have you ever had the experience where you were delayed for hours at an airport somewhere in the world?

Last week I checked in at Liverpool Airport to take the short 35 minute flight to Dublin.  I had one and a half hours to spare so I bought myself a black coffee.  As I looked at the board I couldn’t believe what I saw, my flight which was due out at 11:05am was now not departing until 3:35pm.  At that moment all around me, the negativity started moaning and whingeing and I had to quickly reframe my thinking.

• What if I used this time to write my blogs in advance?
• What if I used this time to go over the final points of my Master Class for the next day?
• What if I reviewed my goals and vision for 2011?

By just changing my thinking to ‘what if’, my whole mindset changed and I achieved more in the following four and a half hours than I had in the last two days.

Top Tips on What to Do When Your Life is Delayed

1. Ask yourself ‘what if’?
2. Always go prepared to an airport, take a book, laptop, notebook, pens.
3. Move away from negative Nellie’s and Ned’s.
4. Breathe in relaxation, breathe out stress.
5. Find a comfortable chair/table from where you can work, read or just relax.
6. Use your time wisely.
7. Clean up your to do list.

Pause and be grateful that at least you were not sitting on a plane on the runway for four and a half hours and know that sometimes in life delays can be positive.

You just don’t know who you might connect with along the way.