Do you go on ‘automatic pilot’ when you get in your car? How often do you think about the roads you will take to get you to your destination?
I decided to venture outside on the day after Thanksgiving … I had to run to FedEx and to the post office. On the way home, I decided to take I45 instead of my usual side roads to avoid the mall traffic I knew I would encounter.
I was easily able to get on the road that runs parallel to I45. Suddenly traffic stopped. The far right lane was open because it was an exit only lane, headed away from the mall. The far left lane was moving slowly – it was a straight-through lane. It was the middle lane [that I was in] that was stopped. When I was finally able to get in the left lane, I realized that the backup was because that was the exit only lane headed towards the mall.
Had any of these people in the long mall-exit-only lane realized the traffic tie-up, they could have arrived at the mall a full fifteen minutes earlier! All they had to do was continue north to the next exit, then turn around and head south towards the mall. There was no traffic after the mall-only-exit, nor southbound.
How many times do you continue doing the same thing, despite the obstacles, without thinking? Would thinking of alternative methods help you achieve your goal more quickly or more efficiently?
Think about it … and let me know!
