Critical Thinking: How "not-to-miss" your Train

Ever imagined catching a train that you 'already' missed?

Well, this post might help you unveil some life-hacks that I learnt from my brother Mohit Singh . I promise, by the end of this post you will understand how numbers, timings and assumptions (aka gut-feeling) play vital roles in Critical Thinking.

This is how it started. He had a train to catch at sharp 10 PM. Usually it takes end-to-end 1 hour for us to reach New Delhi and catch any train, looking at the traffic situation he planned to leave 2 hours in advance. Now this might sound weird but it took 60 minutes for him to reach metro station (barely 2 KMs of distance from our place). And, by the time he got on the metro, it was already quarter-past 9.

He realised it's not a usual day today and, it's impossible to catch the train now from New Delhi (as he also had Papa accompanying him).

What we learnt so far? It doesn't matter how effectively you plan, Murphy's law applies everywhere.

What's next? He had two options:

1. As there was no possibility of catching the train, he could come back home
2. Not to converge on option 1 and, diverge for the next available option

He chose to go for the 2nd option. He simply started applying maths with some assumption in hand.

Step1: He checked the next station and timing (it was Ghaziabad with arrival time of 22:43)

Step2: He did some past data analysis and found that train is usually 5 mins late (new ETA is 22:48)

Step3: He used google maps to plan options effectively. He planned to get-down at Vaishali and hire a cab to reach railway station. This gave him ETA of 22:50 (he assumed, what if train is delayed by 10 mins today, he will have a chance).

Step4: On his way to Vaishali he continued to explore other options and learnt that IP metro station is 20 minutes before Vaishali with 10 mins additional road time to Ghaziabad Railway station (now his ETA is 22:40)

Step5: He got down, got the cab and explained the situation to the driver

Step6: The driver helped him reach the station at 22:38 and he was at the platform exactly at 22:40. The best part, train was surely late by 10 minutes so it reached at 22:53 and that's when he (along with papa) got into the train

When I analysed this overall instance, I had multiple lessons to learn from his experience:

1. Power of attraction works - He got the train delayed it seems because he would have continued to pray for a delayed train
2. Murphy's Law is True - Why would otherwise it take 60 mins to travel 2 KMs?
3. Think of a happy journey in adverse situations - He had no option but to trust every instance to take place without further surprise, and it worked
4. Make decisions based on your gut-feelings too - Our gut-feeling is mostly backed-up by some past trends/ data and we must prioritise it in such situations
5. Stay positive - He always thought he will catch the train, and he managed it very well.

Happy journey with some meaningful learning!