Why should you visit the very first ATM en route to your destination?
About a decade ago, I wanted to visit a store (to buy chicken) located a mile away from my home.
I was not having cash and those were pre-UPI(Paytm/PhonePe/Google Pay) days in India. The store doesn’t accept credit/debit cards.
With the assumption that I can withdraw cash at the ATM near the store, I bypassed all four ATMs en route to the meat store. I parked my two-wheeler (motorcycle) at the meat store and walked towards the ATM nearby.
To my utter surprise, the ATM was not dispensing the cash.
Then I picked up my bike and started going to the next ATM(the second one from the store and 4th one from my home).
Unfortunately, the second ATM is also out of Order.
Then, I went to the third ATM, which had a long queue, literally it will take a minimum of 15 minutes to withdraw cash and I was not confident whether cash would be available by the time I get my turn to withdraw.
With a lot of despair, I went to the 4th ATM(the second one from my home). There the situation was different, someone’s card was stuck in the card reader and they were waiting for a technician’s assistance.
I felt really bad and finally went to the last ATM(but the very first ATM from my home). There was only one person inside the ATM and after 30 seconds, I got a chance to withdraw my money and I finally succeeded in withdrawing #money from ATM.
After withdrawing cash, I went back to the meat store and bought chicken all in all I spent 45 mins in the whole process. Which would have ideally taken not more than 15 mins.
I started thinking deeply about the situation and blamed myself for not applying the #lean thinking mindset and for not being a #productivitymonk.
It was a hard-learned lesson that made me super proactive and productive in everything that I do from there onwards. And I started withdrawing cash from the very first ATM :)
We often overlook certain small things out of over confidence or may be ignorance at times. But they will negatively impact us.
Has there been any experience in your life that made you think differently and changed the way you execute things?
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Thanks for reading.
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
