How to Make the Best of a Bad Situation

Everyone has “rats” in their life from time to time—a distraction that drives you crazy, a problem that feels like it must be solved before you can do anything else. Maybe it’s a leaky faucet or a missing wallet or a perceived slight. Here are five tips to help make the best of the situation.

1. Stick together (don’t turn on your partners and allies).

2. Imagine the worst-case scenario and figure out how you’d deal with that. If it turns out to be easier, at least you were ready.

3. Act swiftly but smartly. Don’t go tearing out your walls, metaphorically or not, without a plan.

4. Cutting corners up-front can, and usually does, cost you more in the end. Better to deal with it sooner rather than later.

5. Take the opportunity to reassess the way you operate. This is a chance to make your life leaner, cleaner and less vulnerable to this sort of problem in the future.