Shortcut Regrets

Have you ever taken a shortcut that you regretted? A situation where you took the shortsighted, “easy” way and then you had to take the long way since the easy way didn’t work (or even set you back)? Maybe it was time/effort, maybe it was cost, or maybe it was even both.

Often the best shortcut is learning from past failures - your own and those from others. The adage "buy cheap, buy twice" is not just true from the financial perspective but also from time and effort. Don't take the quickest, easiest choice just because you don't have time - look at the long-term impact or you'll be right back where you started (or maybe in an even worse spot).

WHAT’S YOUR MOST INSIGHTFUL SHORTCUT REGRET THAT PEOPLE CAN LEARN FROM?

I know I’ve certainly taken my fair share. A recent one that comes to mind happened a couple years ago. We were running late to my youngest daughter’s dance recital. We finally got everyone in the car and took the normal route, which goes under a railroad track bridge.  It sometimes floods under it and when it does, gates are shut on both sides. It had rained recently, but not enough to flood it, and the first gate was open, so we went through a little water under the bridge, and came to the second gate, which was closed.

So now we have two options: 1) turn around and take the alternate route (which would add 5-10 minutes), or 2) go around the gate on the right side. It didn’t seem like a big deal to go around (after all, both gates weren’t closed, so we shouldn’t even have been in this side of the closed gate). While there was a slight slope on that side of the gate, it didn’t seem like a problem. So we drove off to the right, and as soon as we were passing the gate, we slid down the slope into the gate, and the rear wheel well was lodged on the gate post. We didn’t think about how soft the ground was from the recent rain, and the weight of the SUV was like a ball rolling down a hill.  It took two tow trucks to swing the SUV away from the gate post so we didn’t further damage the SUV.

Now looking back, even though it was certainly not my proudest moment, we can laugh about it a little bit and know that we learned a valuable lesson (if it has rained at all, just go around to start with)! But more importantly was the lesson learned about taking shortcuts: it’s worth it to take a little bit of time to think through what might happen – what’s the best and worst outcomes out of the scenarios. In this case, the worst thing that would have happened in turning around was that we might have been a few minutes late (but still there prior to her actual performance). That significantly outweighs the worst thing that could have happened from taking the shortcut – which unfortunately ended up happening.

This is NOT a knock on all shortcuts – there are many good types of shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts are a great example. They save a lot of time that really adds up, and they keep you from losing track of what you were trying to do in the first place – which is easy to do when using the mouse to traverse through countless menus! But for other shortcuts, just remember to stop and think: is this really going to end up being a shortcut or is it better to just take the longer way.

In case you need one more proof point – take a look at one of my favorite movie clips – a scene from Road Trip. It hits so close to home for me now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZOg8bzVT5s