I was in the middle of a woodworking project—a hobby I’ve grown to love—when the accident happened. Nothing too dramatic, but enough to land me in the hospital with a few stitches in my hand and a bruised ego.
Truth is, I’ve been at this project for a few months. I enjoy building things—solving problems, organizing, and creating. Woodworking has become therapeutic for me. It mirrors my professional life in a lot of ways: vision, planning, execution. But this particular session didn’t go as planned. One wrong move and I was out of commission. Suddenly, everything I had mapped out for the next few weeks—appointments, goals, home projects—came to a halt.
And that’s when it hit me: this wasn’t a crisis. It was an inconvenience.
Sure, it was painful. Sure, it threw off my schedule. But in the grand scheme of things, I was incredibly lucky. No lasting damage, no surgeries, no long-term impact. Just a few weeks of adjusting expectations and a reminder that things don’t always go according to plan.
It made me think about how often we confuse inconvenience with catastrophe.
In my work, I see this all the time. The market drops, a client pulls out, a key employee leaves. Plans shift. People panic. Most of the time it’s not the end of the road, it’s just a detour. We regroup, realign, and move forward.
I’ve come to believe that inconvenience, especially when it messes with our carefully laid plans, is one of life’s most frustrating teachers. It forces us to adapt. Professionally, we’re used to doing that. Markets fluctuate, interest rates move, clients change course. We respond. We stay nimble.
Personally, though? That’s often harder.
When something interferes with your day-to-day life, your hobbies, or your goals, it feels bigger and more personal, like you’ve lost control of something that was never really in your control. We often blow it out of proportion. We imagine everything we’ll miss, everything that won’t get done, everything that might go sideways now.
But most of the time? It’s just an inconvenience.
When I got hurt, some people reached out with genuine concern. Others sent a quick “feel better soon” and moved on. A few checked in later, most didn’t, and I don’t fault anyone for that—it simply reflected the scale of the situation. For me, it was a frustrating interruption. For everyone else? It was a blip. And they were right.
That perspective is humbling. It makes me ask better questions when challenges arise—Is this truly a life-altering event? Or just something that messed with my timeline?
If it’s the latter, then maybe the goal isn’t to fix it or get back on track immediately. Maybe the goal should be to reset expectations, be flexible, and move forward in a different way.
If you’re facing a challenge right now, ask yourself: is this a true turning point, or is it just uncomfortable because it disrupted the plan you made under the assumption that everything would go your way?
In most cases, plans may shift and the process may get messy, but the outcome is still within reach—just with a little flexibility.
Mark J Modzeleski, CFS, CLTC, AIF
President, Legacy Wealth Advisors of NY