Running to the Gate

As I'm sitting here at the airport, I constantly see people running towards their gates to catch their plane. Even right now, at the security check, a woman asked me if she could skip the queue to catch her flight. To me, this just doesn't make any sense. Marc Randolph has already touched on this topic once in his posts, and I encourage you to read it, but I kind of want to revisit it and talk about it in my own words.

Just think about it for a second: does running to your airplane really make sense? Has it ever happened to you that when you were too late for something like boarding your airplane, you were just there at the right time, right before the doors closed? I doubt it. It's either that you will sit in the plane for another 15 minutes or more, or you already see the plane taxiing on the tarmac. You never arrive "just on time."

I think this way of thinking doesn't just apply to being late; it extends to your entire life. Consider learning for a test in school: trying to revice the material in the last 15 minutes before the text won't basically change anything about your grade. Even before that, it was decided if you would fail or pass the test.

The same principle applies in the business world, especially when pitching to investors. Trying to redefine the pitch deck the night before won't necessarily impact whether you secure the investment. Often, we humans overestimate how little things like this really affect the outcome. Sometimes, our time is better spent elsewhere.

Thanks,

Finn