When Things Aren’t Going Right
Before every game, my college football coach used to tell us, "Something is going to go wrong tonight." He wasn't being a pessimist. He was preparing us for the inevitable—because in every game, every season, and every place we work and call home, something always goes wrong. A delivery is late, a friendship goes south, or an email goes unread. And yet we're often disrupted by what we knew was coming.
Why? Well, I think it’s because we want things to go right, and we assume our version of right will produce the outcomes we want. So when the game refuses to follow our script, we stop responding with intention and start reacting out of fear. We lose sight of what’s in front of us.
When things aren't going right, we have a lot of options:
Change what we're doing.
Change how we're seeing.
Change nothing.
Change ourselves.
Press eject.
Any of these could be right in a given situation. But if you're like me, then fear often debilitates you with the sheer number of possible responses. Four options multiply into forty, and forty feels like fog.
My coach wanted us to develop an instinct. In fact, in practice, he would introduce mistakes, bad calls, and pull key players unexpectedly. He was helping us get to this place where we wouldn't have to decide everything, only do the next thing. Emily P. Freeman calls it by name in The Next Right Thing: "Just do the next right thing." She disarms the guilt that keeps us stuck: "Just because things change doesn't mean you chose wrong in the first place." She invites love into the moment, so we’re not crippled by fear.
So here's a practice, whether you're on a field, in an office, or at a kitchen table, wondering what to do when things aren’t going right:
Name what's actually happening. Not the catastrophe your imagination is writing—what’s actually in front of you?
Ask what's driving you: Love or fear? Fear works both ways—it keeps you from what you want and convinces you you're stuck with what you don't. Love brings freedom.
Do one next right thing. Not the perfect thing. Not the whole plan. One right thing, in love, today.
Something’s going to go wrong today, just do the next right thing.
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Notes:
Emily P. Freeman, The Next Right Thing: A Simple, Soulful Practice for Making Life Decisions (Grand Rapids: Revell, 2019), ch. 1, "Do the Next Right Thing," 9-20. Freeman's central practice, stated throughout the book.
Patrick Lencioni, The 6 Types of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2022). On the difference between genius, competency, and frustration zones referenced throughout.