This morning I received my customary 6am wakeup call, but decided that since I was at my parents’ place for the holiday, I deserved to sleep in another hour before driving back to Columbus.
Three hours later at 9:15am, I woke up again.
In a bit of a hurry, I packed my bags, said goodbye, and got back on the road. I didn’t need to be back for anything in particular, I just wanted to get back into my routine.
There is a stretch of road between my hometown and Columbus where a two-lane highway with a 70mph speed limit quickly becomes a one-lane with a 55mph limit. I generally slow down a bit, but keep my speed right around 65mph through this stretch before it turns back into a regular two-lane highway.
And God bless America, there was a state trooper sitting at that speed trap this morning. Clocking me at 71mph, he pulled me over. (+15 minutes)
As I pulled away from the stop, I realized that my citation did not allow for personal checks and offered no way of paying online. So, I decided to just go pay the fine right away at the courthouse in cash in order to avoid the headache. (+10 minutes)
But to get to the courthouse was 15 minutes in the opposite direction. (+30 minutes)
Then, upon leaving the courthouse, I was promptly caught behind a train. (+10 minutes)
Did I need to get back to Columbus maybe 10 minutes sooner than if I had followed the speed limit? No, not really.
But at the time, I felt like I needed to be there right now! And I feel this way in my work sometimes too. But sometimes putting the extra emphasis on speed is short-sighted and risks a much larger setback than the upside it provides.