What do you do, when life serves you a Kobayashi Maru?

Fans of Star Trek would instantly recognize what the term "Kobayashi Maru" refers to.

For those non-fans, (shame on you) you more than likely may have encountered one at some point in your life. It's basically a "no-win" scenario, one of those situations where everything seems to be against you & obstacles seem to block all your paths.

Some liken it to being between a "rock and a hard place", sometimes in a situation where you're trying to make a positive change in your life. It can also feel personalized, as if some negative forces are trying to keep you down. 

You've already faced a Kobay Maru of your own, or you soon will.  The question is, how do you handle it?
Let's look at this real-life scenario.

One morning, my pal Dave and I were talking on the phone, when I noticed his patented long, silent pause...this is my cue that Dave has stopped listening to me, and is reading an email he just received. When this pause was interrupted by a "What the f#&k??", I knew that this was a BIG one.

Atypically, this email wasn't work-related, it was from Dave's College.  The thing is, that after fifteen years of extended workdays & weekends, Dave had finally decided to do something different, to benefit both himself and his family.  He went back to school to complete his MBA.  

It was really rough with his work schedule, but now he was in the final stretch. Three assignments to complete by December, three more for January, a final yr project in 2016, and he was done.  He could see that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. 

Then he got this email telling him that those January assignments, were really due by December.  It meant that Dave suddenly had half the time, to complete twice the number of assignments.  He only had twenty days left.

Man, Dave was a mess. He was simultaneously confused, worried and pissed off. 

With his job, he didn't see any way he could finish all six assignments in twenty days, and the financial implications of failure were not a burden he needed right before Christmas.  The January date was published a month and a half before, and Dave had planned his entire work and vacation schedule around it. There had to be some mistake, so he contacted the College.  The student liaison, however, did not have good news.

This wasn't a mistake, and while she was very understanding about the pickle Dave was put in, that's just what the situation was.  He could apply for a extension, though.
  

The short term extension would give Dave five extra days, but he would have to provide evidence that he was ill, or either his wife or children were hit with a short term illness, or some new project got dumped on him at work without any notice.

He could also try for a long term extension, if he could show that some circumstances beyond his control had prevented him from finishing on time. And that extension, apparently had to be approved by God himself.

Dave had lost a full month, five days really wasn't going to help him much, even if he could manufacture evidence to get it approved. Long term was a long-shot. The only other choice he could see was sacrificing one or two of the assignments outright, and toiling night and day to try to at least finish the other four. The financial hit would be less that way.

Dave just had no good options available to him.
There seemed to be no way to succeed. He was faced with a "Kobayashi Maru".

In our next post, we'll look at what Dave did next.

P.S: For those who haven't seen The Lord of the Rings, (you poor souls) and didn't get the picture reference above, this clip is for you. :)

How would you tackle Dave's Koby Maru? Leave us your comments below!