Mike Tyson famously said, "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." This response was to a reporter's question regarding whether he was worried about Evander Holyfield's fight plan.
Years later, another reporter asked Tyson to elaborate on his then famous quote. The reporter commented: "What I like so much about the quote is that its application stretches far beyond boxing. It really has meaning in any area of life, whether the blow comes from a health issue, losing your job, making a bad investment, a traffic jam, whatever. It's how you react to that adversity that defines you, not the adversity itself."
Tyson responded: "Exactly – if you’re good and your plan is working, somewhere during the duration of that, the outcome of that event you're involved in, you're going to get the wrath, the bad end of the stick. Let's see how you deal with it. Normally people don’t deal with it that well."
Tyson's reputation included a ferocious and intimidating boxing style combined with controversial behavior inside and outside the ring. He reigned as the undisputed world heavyweight champion and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win a heavyweight title. Tyson was one of a very few men in boxing history to regain a heavyweight championship after losing it. In addition to his contentious boxing career, Tyson persevered through bankruptcy, incarceration, and family tragedy. Most recently, he founded the Mike Tyson Cares Foundation to “give kids a fighting chance” by providing innovative centers that provide for the comprehensive needs of kids from broken homes.
Frankly, there are chapters of Tyson's story that are unsavory. But, I do admire his grit which enabled him to keep going, overcoming one adversity (mostly self-inflicted) after another. And his famous quote is a reminder that it's not about your plans as much as what you do after you get punched in the mouth.