Contingency Planning

Working in the sciences, if nothing else, will provide the valuable life skill of contingency planning. There is always a plan of action, always a method to get the answers to questions, but rarely, if ever, is the path direct. No matter how ingenious, every plan, every experiment, every technique requires some amount of modification. I believe that this is true, not just in science, but in being an evil mastermind and possibly some other professions as well. Nothing in science seems to go according to plan and quick thinking is a necessity.

Applying the art of contingency planning to life outside of science is something that I consider to be very important. Very rarely will anyone see me freak out about changes in plans. I pretty much assume that every time I have a schedule or plan for anything, that something will come up and I will have to rearrange some part of just about every day. It's not a big deal, nothing is too important, that's every day life. What's the point in getting upset? Things happen and you deal with them.

I seem to handle difficult situations pretty well, and it may be due to training in science - or, maybe I am well suited to be a scientist because I am good with dealing with problems. Either way, I'm pretty sure that I have chosen the correct career path. But what if I don't particularly want to be a scientist for my entire life? I really don't have a strong desire to work with toxic carcinogens for my entire career. Where will I go from here? An even more stressful field, like politics... or something like business.... or did someone mention evil mastermind? How did that get in there?