By the time you're reading this today, I'm most likely being rolled into knee surgery.

Minor procedure. Should be fine. But at my pre-op appointment last week, the surgeon stopped me mid-sentence.

"There's a chance we get in there, and it's worse than we think. If that happens, six weeks on crutches. No driving. No squatting or running for three to six months."

I felt my chest tighten.

I've got keynotes booked. Travel scheduled. A 29,029 mountain climb in June that I've been training for. And it's my right leg — my driving foot.

I panicked.

I'm not going to dress it up differently than that.

And then I caught myself doing something I see constantly derail people - I was letting every possible worst-case scenario run through my head at once. Not one problem.

All of them. At once.

That's actually the point of this email.

Anxiety doesn't live in what's happening. It lives in the gap between what's happening and what you haven't figured out how to handle yet.

So I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote two words at the top:

If. Then.

If the surgery goes as planned, then physical therapy starts Monday, June climb stays on track.

If it's worse, then I adjust the keynote schedule here, arrange travel support there, and postpone June until next year.

It's not a finished plan or a solution. Just a game plan.

And the moment I wrote it down, something shifted. The weight didn't disappear. But it had somewhere to land besides my chest.

Whatever's sitting heavy on you right now - stop replaying it. Write it down. Build your if/then.

You can't control the outcome. You can always control the game plan.

Go win your day, Reader,

Say hi 👋 on Instagram or LinkedIn​

PS - want help bouncing back from challenges beyond your control?

My new book Beat Yesterday teaches a T.O.D.A.Y. framework that helps you reclaim your focus from 'what might happen' back to being where your feet are.

Grab your copy here.​
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Here's a quick reminder of what we as achievers so often forget. Not on Tiktok? Just watch it here on Instagram.

Jake Thompson

Didn’t get the gig. Found out who did. Couldn’t even be mad. Watch this if you’ve been so locked in on what you haven’t achieved that you’ve completely forgotten how far you’ve already come. Progress doesn’t always look like winning. Sometimes it looks like losing to the right people. Beat yesterday. That’s the only scoreboard that matters. — Want to learn how to reset faster and get back on your own scoreboard? 👉 Dive into my newest book “Beat Yesterday” #CompeteEveryDay #BeatYesterday #GrowthMindset

♬ original sound - Jake Thompson

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