Today’s the big day for Punxsutawney Phil.  Once a year, he predicts for us the next six week’s weather.  It all goes back to the Germans who celebrated Candlemas Day which eventually spread through Europe and across the channel to England.  The old English saying is:

If Candlemas be fair & bright,

Winter has another flight.

If Candlemas brings clouds & rain,

Winter will not come again.

The idea being a cold, cloudy day on February 2nd brings an early Spring.  A sunny day, brings more winter weather.  And today, P. Phil saw his shadow.  His prediction is six more weeks of winter.  The only problem is that Punxsutawney Phil has a 39% accuracy rate.  At first, that sounds slightly substantial.  After all, how often does your trusted weather man miss the mark?  However, your trusted weatherman actually has a much higher accuracy rate than P. Phil…..68% to be specific.  P. Phil’s rate isn’t even as high as chance like flipping a coin.

Then why even care what P. Phil has to say about the weather?  It’s a reminder to be prepared.  In all areas of your life you should be prepared for what might just actually happen.  You never know when you might just hit traffic on the way to your child’s recital, get lost even with GPS, loose your phone (yep, I claim this one), miss your flight (again, yes) or gain a new, large account.  There are endless unplanned events that can create complete upheaval.  It’s in those moments you realize how prepared or unprepared you really are for life’s little challenges.

It can seem overwhelming or even silly in the calm to set up your Back-Up Mode, but when the challenge comes, you’ll thank yourself for planning ahead.