Thought Leadership - August 4, 2026

There is no way around it. Life is one trial after another. Problem after problem. Sometimes they compound, and you have to deal with several issues... related or unrelated... at the same time.

Some problems are people problems. Some are health, mechanical, technological, or financial, to name a few. Some trials are life-changing; some are trivial.

It feels like Murphy’s Law was written for you: “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” And the timing is impeccable... perfectly timed to cause the most damage. They seem endless because, in a sense, they are. This is the human condition.

I won’t get too religious or spiritual: sin is the cause, and Adam is to blame. That’s my personal belief; I’m not trying to convince you. I also believe there will be no rest for the weary until we are called home. But I digress.

I’ve always thought of myself as a problem solver. I have generally enjoyed solving problems, fixing things, and finding better ways of doing things. Problem solving has come easy to me. I’m not an expert, but I am often pretty good at it.

Here is one trial I encountered that I turned into a triumph.

I inherited a problem at the leading radio company in Salt Lake City, Simmons Media Group. Commercials were missed that were supposed to air because the carts were not in the studio as they were supposed to be. This was in the mid-1990s, before computer automation simplified the issue.

My solution saved them tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. Bear with me as I explain.

One reason commercials were missed was that there were only so many carts to record them on. Carts are like 8-track tapes that can be recorded over. When a commercial schedule ended, you recorded a new one over the old one (after erasing the cart first).

There were four stations, and they were often sold out… meaning all the on-air inventory was sold. It used to be that radio stations would limit how many commercials they played per hour. But they didn’t have enough carts for all those commercials. Or so it seemed, until I solved the problem.

The production manager would often put a TFN (“til further notice”) on many carts. But most of those commercials were dated and were not supposed to run after a specific date. Sometimes, after an advertiser’s schedule ran, they didn’t renew their contract. But since the cart had TFN, it stayed in the studio. No one knew it was done. Sometimes a sale would run for an advertiser, but it was “this weekend,” with no actual dates… anticipating the client would continue to renew week after week, TFN on that cart too.

As you can see, the carts would get used up. When a commercial was past its end date on the cart, the deejay would turn it upside down. This would indicate the cart could be reused. If the production director labeled it with TFN, no one knew when the cart could be reused. It did not get turned upside down. Production would then arbitrarily pull a cart because they needed one. That commercial would get overwritten and go missing. Lost revenue. In radio, every missed spot is a make-good: free airtime, credits, or refunds.

The organization of the carts was a bit of a mess, too. Carts were numbered, and that’s what was supposed to keep them in order. But sometimes they weren’t, and carts were misfiled, which also caused lost revenue. The cart was there in the rack... just not between the right numbers.

When a commercial missed its time slot, the first option would be for it to be “made good.” That usually required adjusting the client’s schedule. Sometimes that meant giving them free placements. If that was not possible, they would get credits or refunds. When commercials were a hundred dollars or more for sixty seconds, missing commercials’ lost revenue added up quickly.

I was hired to keep track of the commercials so they would not go missing. I was thrown into the fire because I did not have any experience in this matter. But after some thought about this trial I was given, I had a solution: an alpha-numeric cart numbering system. I designed it something like this: each letter had 50 numbers assigned, with a bank of 1,000 numbers. A was 0–49, B 50–99, and so on. Some letters... like QR, UVW, XYZ... were bundled together because so few companies started with those letters. The numbers, like the carts, would get recycled as the clients’ schedules ended.

Now, this system did not perfectly alphabetize the carts because clients’ schedules changed. New clients would start, etc. But you knew that if you got to 150, you were past the A’s; at 200 you were past the B’s, and so on. It made finding commercials easier and faster.

I kept track of the dates the commercials were scheduled for and instructed those who recorded them what end date to put on the cart. This way, we didn’t have 100 TFN carts in the studio. And there was no longer a shortage of carts to use. There was always a cart available for a new commercial.

My solution immediately saved the company revenue it was losing. Commercials no longer missed.

The production director didn’t like me, though. He thought I made him look bad because he couldn’t solve the problem. But the managers were happy the stations made their revenue numbers. Salespeople were happy they made their commissions and no longer had to apologize for missing commercials. The DJs were no longer stressed about finding the commercials they needed for their shift. Solving the trial didn’t just fix a process; it realigned incentives across the whole operation.

A couple of years later, in 1998, I took this solution to another radio group in Reno, Citadel Communications. They were having a similar problem.

So my trial became my triumph. Twice.

Oftentimes, your trials simply require thought and analysis. Sometimes you need to talk it out with someone who can look at the problem with a clear, uncluttered view. That’s how you turn a trial into a triumph.

If you’re staring at a recurring problem that won’t stay solved, let’s walk through it together.

Let me know what trial you want to turn into a triumph today. Set up some time for a consultation on my calendar here: https://boz.link/cal.

If you are interested in what makes someone successful, I have compiled practical applications from some of the world’s thought leaders on success and will be publishing a series called Millionaire Secrets. The first in the series, the Missing Element, is almost ready. Sign up to get a free digital copy when it is published through Bosworth Press. Visit https://millionairesecrets.info, read the first chapter, and get on the list.