Life and human life for that matter is governed by both natural and human-made rules. Some of these rules have been well articulated over time, and people have come to terms and follow them. Life being dynamic, it is not far from the truth that such rules are expected to evolve and even revolve.

I have no intention to delve into what has been propounded by different academic authorities but rather to share what life through experience has taught humanity on the possibility of the unexpected happening in an individual’s life.

Every man and woman alive has dreams, ambitions and expectations in life. Many people put in their best to achieve their aspirations and realise their dreams, and unfortunately in some cases, only the unexpected is what greets them and usually in the form of failure.

The propagation by Tracey, unfortunately, postulates that “The law of unintended consequences is by far worse than the intended consequences and usually it is attributed to the lack of long-term thinking.”

The fact that most people are comfortable with short-term plans is a dangerous recipe for failure as such programs do not usually account for unforeseen circumstances and as a result when what they do not expect happens they become just victims of fate. The known consequences of unanticipated failure are mostly a drain of ambition which consequently culminates into the resignation of future attempts.

To abate encountering unintended consequences, individuals need to understand the other law called the Law of perverse Consequences which states that, “a short-term action aimed at immediate gratification can lead to perverse or the opposite consequences from those that it was meant.”

Success in life never happens by accident, but it always comes as a result of systematic planning and making every effort to implement the plan. Long-term plans have the highest chances of succeeding as they give time to deal with unanticipated failures by merely turning them into lessons learnt on the impediments of success.

When Mr Phillips encountered many setbacks in discovering an electric bulb, the bank manager where he had applied for a loan to fund his project asked him where he drew the confidence of one day succeeding with his failed project, and his answer was quite baffling. He said, “I am certain of coming up with a bulb that will give light because of the many ways I have learnt over time on what will make a bulb fail to give light.” In essence, Mr Phillips was referring to his many failures as a reason for his hope to succeed one day.

With long-term plans, one can be sure that failures along the way work to their advantage by purifying their analysis potential to understand why things can’t happen in a particular way. This in itself is the power of unintended consequences.