I heard a story once of a man who was carrying his son’s birthday cake to the table and on his way he stumbled and dropped the cake right on the floor. His son was devastated and immediately started crying. His wife just stood there, lost for words and not wanting to make her husband feel any worse than he already did. Then suddenly he scooped up the cake, plopped it back on the pan then slid it on to the table and shouted “ta da!” as nothing had ever happened.

While his son started laughing, his wife gave him a disgusted look and cried, “that touched the floor! We can’t eat that!” To which the man replied, “well, the middle of the cake is still good.”

Terrible things happen, both in personal life as well as business. When they happen you have two ways you can respond. On the one hand you can stand there and do nothing while allowing yourself to be consumed by the tragedy. Or, you can make the best you can of the situation and salvage what you can from it.

When the cake falls on the floor, eat the middle.

Photo By Advait Supnekar