When PLANS fail…
Woke up at 4:30am this morning to catch a train to Gatwick Airport.
Woke up at 4:30am this morning to catch a train to Gatwick Airport.
I arrived at the train station 30 mins early to make sure I wouldn’t miss it.
The employee at the station told me the train will leave from platform 1 at 5:39am. So I waited in the cold while speaking with Karen and the kids via FaceTime.
At 5:38am, I noticed the train to Gatwick was no longer listed as one of the trains leaving from Platform 1…
As I rushed up to the bridge with my luggage to see what was happening… I saw the train I was suppose to get on was slowly leaving Platform 3… (it changed platforms with no announcements.)
Next train… in 30 mins.
Crap.
I wasn’t the only one. Another passenger heading to Gatwick did exactly what I did.
So now you have a choice…
A. Act out. Be pissed off at the staff member, the train conductor, the train… hell the full moon as well. But in the end – this doesn’t CHANGE anything.
B. Be patient. Wait patiently for the next train and hope you don’t miss this one.
C. Control the situation. Call an UBER.
My friend Taki once said that “any problem that can be solved with money… it’s not really a problem.”
Does certain privileges cost more?
Yes. In this case 4-5x more.
But the ability to take control of the situation by leveraging your options is far better than sitting there feeling stuck on your own mental limitations (and stressing over a circumstance that you have no control over).
I told the guy who also missed the train that I’m grabbing an Uber and he has a free ride to the airport if he wants… (turns out he is the head of a world wide charity foundation teaching people about mediations… that lead to some interesting conversations in the car.)
So an hour and half later, armed with the privilege of an Uber app, Platinum status on One World airlines… I managed to cut through all lines and got to the airport with 10 mins to spare.
It was close.
The alternative would have cost me time and risked uncontrolled variables.
Today, the lesson was: “manage your emotions by controlling the variables.”
What’s the one thing you are frustrated with in your life or business that you can easy take control of the outcome of you changed the variables that you have control over?
Control what you can control.
P.S. What are the chances that the person sitting next to me was my client Heidi Brown?
Nitro Benahavis Spain Intensive begins…
