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The Art of Anticipating
• They keep light bulbs in their homes to replace bulbs as
soon as they burn out.
• They have emergency plans in place, should their homes
be hit by a power outage or a disaster.
• They take reading material with them to the doctor’s
office. (That way, they don’t waste time reading Modern
Podiatry, The Journal of Gastroenterology, or whatever
else lies about the waiting room.)
If you found that eight or more of these behaviors apply to
you, you excel at intercepting problems before they occur. If
you identified with four or fewer, however, you need to work at
your ability to think ahead. You’re currently at the mercy of the
unexpected—and probably get quite stressed when things don’t
go as they should.
There are a number of areas where a solid ability to antici-
pate pays off. A more focused awareness of these categories
can help you become more able to preempt setbacks.

The Parking Meter Syndrome

This must be your lucky day! You need to pick up that new
laser printer you ordered at Eddie’s Electronics Emporium. And
there, right in front of Eddie’s, is a parking space. You screech
your car into the spot before someone else sees it. You pull out
a handful of quarters and drop one into the meter. That gives
you 15 minutes, which should be just about enough time to
pick up the printer.
You go in, but there’s only one salesperson working and two
customers are already in line ahead of you. You browse—there
are so many neat gadgets here. In no time, it seems, someone
is ready to retrieve your order. But they can’t find it. You wait.
Your printer is finally discovered. You hand over your credit
card. The approval takes a while to come through. Finally, the
transaction completed, you head out to your car.
And there, on your windshield, is a $50 parking ticket. You
check your watch and find out that the “quick in and out” has