My Default is Stasis
My Wife is Action
If there are two lines at the airport I get in one and wait.
My wife gets in one, looks at the other, tells me I got in the slow one and jumps between the two.
My default is stasis.
Her default is: There must be a faster way.
There are two types of trains to New York: The faster one (fewer stops, more expensive); and the slower one, (more stops, cheaper).
I need to be there for a meeting and so I’m on the 9:00 AM fast train.
Arriving at the station I see my train is delayed by 15 minutes. I harumph and take a seat. Then 20 minutes, then 25, then 35.
My “there must be a faster way” wife would be searching for another train.
DECISION POINT
But I am alone and I leave my comfort zone and go to the desk and ask: “Are we on the road to cancellation… or just delayed.”
“Your train hasn’t left the previous station,” he said and then offered me a seat on the slow train that leaves in five minutes for another $119.
Worried I will miss my appointment, I grab the seat.
I walk to the platform and wait for the slow train.
While I’m standing there, an announcement is made saying that my original fast train is on the way.
DECISION POINT
Do I walk back in and ask for a refund, change again?
My default is stasis…I do nothing, although I am a little frustrated with the guy at the ticket counter who suggested I pay up for a slower train.
Then another announcement is made: “Mr. Robert Granader, please come to the ticket counter.”
I run to the desk and the guy who helped me is smiling.
“Sorry about the timing,” he said. “Let me put you back on the fast train. Even though it leaves later, it’ll pass the slow train. And I’ll refund your $119.”
Goodness in the world.
We complete the transaction and I go back to the platform as the slow train pulls away and my fast train pulls in.
I take my seat. A quiet comes over the train as the power goes out. We sit. Five minutes, then ten, then twenty.
DECISION POINT
My default is stasis, I wait for an announcement.
They announce the train is out of service.
I’ve been there 2 hours.
I go back into the station and the guy is shaking his head.
“A slow train is on the way, you need to jump on that.”
I get on the slow train and for 3 hours I replay the decisions:
Could/should I have done more? Why am I like this?
It’s about belief.
My wife believes that outcomes can be improved through action.
Do I believe that outcomes are largely outside our control and that patience is the better strategy? Or am I just lazy?
What is your default?
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