One flat tire doesn’t mean you have to slash the other three. Something goes wrong. You get rejected. An unexpected bill hits. You miss a deadline. A relationship gets difficult. A plan you were counting on falls apart. And sometimes, without realizing it, we allow that one difficult thing to start making decisions for everything else. I can’t focus on anything now. Everything has to stop. The whole plan is ruined. But here’s the thing: The original problem may be completely real. It may hurt. It may cost you time. It may require your attention. And you may have absolutely no control over the fact that it happened. Self-leadership isn’t pretending otherwise. It’s asking: How do I deal with this problem without unnecessarily creating three more? Handle what’s real. Give it the attention it deserves. Adjust the plan if you need to. Ask for help if you need it. But don’t automatically surrender everything that’s still working because one part isn’t. You got a flat ti...