My worst-case nightmare scenario happened

Last week my digital nomad “worst nightmare scenario” happened.

Basically my whole lifestyle working online is dependent on me having one thing. You can probably guess what it is, but just to create a little suspense in this email, I'll save it for later. 

If I lose that thing or it breaks, I’m in trouble. 

Well, last week it broke. 

At the worst possible time, because I had calls scheduled that day, and I had a couple massive mega client deadlines coming up.

Basically, I opened up my computer last Wednesday… and it wouldn’t turn on.

I jam the power button like 10 times. And I just get a black screen with a little icon saying the battery is dead.

But my computer is plugged in. And it’s been plugged in all night. It shouldn’t be dead.

It shouldn’t be dead. The only way it’s dead is if it’s DEAD dead.

I start freaking out. My whole life is on that machine. If it stops working, I can’t work.

Meanwhile in 3 hours I have an important work call. Followed by another important work call an hour later.

So I put my broken computer in my backpack and go see the Geek Squad at Best Buy. They give me the bad news: my charging port is fried. It’s not gonna work anymore.

I went to Best Buy and they told me the charging port was fried. 

Then I went to the Apple Store to get a second opinion. While I’m waiting, I see another charger plugged in. I plug it into my computer and it works… just barely.

I was able to get enough charge on the computer to go in, email myself all my important files, and then get out of there.

Then I do my calls from my phone. I had never done a work call from my phone before. I wasn’t even sure exactly how to do a Google Meet call on my phone.

Luckily the calls go well!

Then I go to a bunch of used computer stores until I find one that has a good Mac in stock.

This whole week I’ve been rushing to get all my work done, while also hanging out with my New York friends in the one week I’m here and re-entering passwords on every single website I use.

It’s still weird using a new computer, but this story has a happy ending. I didn’t miss a single client deadline and I’ve still turned in work that I’m proud of.

(Although I am a couple hours late with this email. I guess you can’t win ‘em all.)

The big lesson I took away from this: in life, you’re going to have crisis moments from time to time. Especially if you run your own business.

Ideally you want to avoid those crisis moments entirely by being smart and planning things properly. Like, for example, I should have gotten a new computer much sooner, at a more convenient time when my life wasn’t hectic.

But no matter what you do, some crisis moments WILL come up. Life is all about how you respond to those crisis moments. 

There’s usually a solution to your problem, even if you can't see it at first.

If you can keep your head and focus, you will eventually see your solution. You’ll probably also learn something useful from the crisis and get stronger.

People mess it up for themselves when they lose their head and start doing dumb stuff. That’s when the problems start happening.

Keep your head, stay focused, and you’ll realize things aren’t nearly as bad as you think!