A favorite quote of mine is “when you jump to conclusions, you leap over facts”. It’s not a quote that I apply very much in my life, but would like to. So I remind myself of it every time I leap over facts :):):):). Two instances happened in the last two days.
On Saturday as I took the Meru cab from the ISB campus to get home, I saw the driver go through Jubilee Hills and Filmnagar and I am very unfamiliar with that route. It was at night and I started to get a little worried about where this guy was going. Also I felt he was taking me through a circuitous route because the bill reached half the money I had paid while coming from Dr. A S Rao nagar. Finally I asked him what route was he taking and a minute later he came out at GVK One and onto the route that I knew very well. He told me this was a shortcut !!! So much for my jumping to the conclusion that he was trying to take a circuitous route :):):).
Today we had to leave home at 2 because the airport is nearly 47 Kms from home and traffic snarls are common in Hyderabad. Ravindra had come home and I was struggling to get onto a concall :(. To top that I got a message from Meru that they were sending me some “Meru genie” car since they didn’t have any cabs in that area !! While Ravindra tried telling me that Incase the cab didn’t reach, he would drop us to the airport, but I didn’t want him to be bothered because it was the middle of his work day.
I got a call from a different number than the SMS and the driver spoke slowly and was clearly not familiar with the route to my house. As luck would have it, I asked Ravindra to drop me at a prominent point and called the driver back. As expected he was in one of the lanes, tantalisingly close to my house, but I wouldn’t have managed to guide him home. Ravindra saved the day and I got into the cab, only to realise that this driver drove slowly too !!! I have a problem with people who speak too slowly and a really big problem with anyone who drives very slow :):). So I got all worked up. Got home, put the boxes in the boot and then asked the driver if he knew the way to the airport …. Agonisingly slowly he tried explaining two routes to me and he was confident of one of them, which I was uncomfortable with. I finally told him, go whichever way, but get me to the airport at 3.30. Guess what he did :):):). There went another conclusion that I jumped to that he was a slow driver. I thanked him, apologized and paid him a good tip.
While these are funny incidents now, how often do we jump to conclusions at work, at home, in personal and professional situations ??? Chances are everytime you are leaping over facts. So try taking a deep breath and look at the data/facts rationally and then draw a conclusion. I do it irregularly but drawing conclusions after looking at all facts have always led to better saner conclusions and a lot less heartburn. :):):)
Now let me look at the facts for my Indigo flight and hopefully will conclude that it will be on time. If I am proved wrong, I’ll blame my innate optimism :).