March is here, meaning it’s a busy time for many! Whether it’s celebrating March Break, studying for very late 'midterm' exams, having your NCAA March Madness bracket totally wrong, or taking impromptu trips; it’s quite the time.
On the topic of impromptu trips, I took a very last-minute trip to New York City earlier this month. An incident on the trip, sparked an idea for this post. This post is here to talk about the importance of being able to make on-the-fly adaptive decisions, and how they can impact your life. So without further delay, let’s get started.
LIFE'S ADAPTIVE DECISIONS?
Take a second to read that again. What I mean by Life's Adaptive Decisions which I will now abbreviate into LAD, is being able to take last minute, path-altering, momentary choices that can improve or make your life harder. The best way to best illustrate what I’m trying to say is by telling you the story that inspired this post:
I love NYC's skyscrapers, they make an amateur cellphone 'photographer' like me look pro (I think)!
When I took my last-minute trip to New York, I encountered quite a situation. I came back from the TwitterU #ForTheCulture event by subway, and had a couple hours to kill before my bus leaves to Toronto. Naturally, coming back from the event, I wanted to switch out of my business casual clothing into a more comfortable casual outfit. I exited the NYC Subway, and entered the subway washroom to do so. Immediately, I was greeted with quite strong odours, as well as an initially quiet washroom. So naturally, I entered a stall and proceeded to remove my blazer and switch to a T-Shirt + Hoodie outfit.
Did I lose you yet? Hopefully not, these days the short attention spans make written content a bit tougher, but hopefully you are entertained, thus far.
Following the culmination of my 'exciting' story, I sat by a fountain admiring the great weather and nightlife!
“So two minutes into changing, I hear aggressive knocks on my stall door, followed by extremely peculiar homeless individuals outside the stall, making very eerie and suggestive noises from their mouths. I, being a tourist and knowing no one, started to get extremely scared and started anxiously folding my blazer, because that’s the only article of clothing I had time to take off.
As a side note, I heard stories about academic exchange students getting their passports stolen, so I hid my passport and bolted out of the stall. There was a lengthy lineup waiting outside my stall, as well as our two homeless 'friends' eyeing me down and continuously making their loud and weird noises.”
At this point I was extremely rattled and uncomfortable, both with my formal uncomfortable clothes I had on all day, and the 'scary' situation. The only thing that was on my mind was getting into more comfortable clothes. And this is where adaptive decisions came into play.
A little throwback to my New York business trip with IBM back in August 2016! Definitely less scary.
I started roaming around Times Square searching for a bathroom to change, and suddenly made an adaptive decision or LAD. I saw the H&M on Times Square. It was a huge store, 3-4 floors, shiny, bright, and well-organized. I stepped in, went up 3 floors on the escalator to the Men’s section.
I started wandering and pretending to be an avid tourist shopper with my two-loaded carry-on bags, and pretended to inspect price tags and fashion trends at H&M. I soon grabbed a pair of pants and a T-shirt from the rack, and raced to the changeroom. The Sales Associate handed me a changeroom pass and showed me to my designated room.
I immediately put aside the clothes I was supposed to try on, and changed into my casual outfit. Once I did that, I made some adjustments to my hair and left the changeroom. I handed the Sales Associate the clothes I 'tried on' and acted as if they were not of interest to me. Casually, I then made couple laps around the Men’s section hunting for some deals, and exited the store.
Mission accomplished.
I am, finally, in comfortable clothing and can wander Times Square for a couple hours in peace!
Quite a lengthy story, and I probably made it longer than it needed to be. But, the bottom line was that I faced a difficult situation, and analysed my surroundings to make a quick decision.
And from this story, I learned how often I must make these types of choices to proceed with my life. Whether it’s the night before an exam & a deadline consequently having to choose what I need to study and how to efficiently complete tasks, or it’s a conflict with relationships; we all face and must make these malleable decisions.
Pictured in the casual outfit I (finally!) got to switch into. Remember, adapt your choices!
Next time you face a situation that may exhibit uneasiness and anxiety, take a momentary step back and analyze all options. Try to think of options that are outside-the-box and creative, like walking into a major retail store to do your personal tasks. Being able to master momentary decision-making refines your instincts, and allows you to make more enhanced personal and even professional decisions.
Life will not hand you perfect odds, or a framework for eternal success. There will be endless roadblocks and obstacles, or even shortcuts, and it’s up to you to choose how you’ll navigate around them or be consumed by them. Remember to be expendable enough to adapt, and mold to your surroundings.