You know that trip I took to Los Angeles where I had to make a quick change for the first two days of the trip?  And those days turned out to be a blessing?  Such an adventure I had!  Well, the return home was an adventure too.

Though this time, not one I want to repeat anytime soon.

It all started with the forecast of another Nor’easter.  I checked my phone before Ieft for airport on Monday morning. The snow was expected to start around midnight or 1:00 am.  Good.  My flight lands at 9:30 pm, so I’ll make it well in advance of the storm.

I get to the airport and check in.  Walk to the gate.  Now I see a text from the airline.  They’ve cancelled the second leg of my flight.  The one going from Baltimore to Hartford.

What?! Why?  Maybe the storm’s coming through Baltimore too.

I check with Customer Service at the gate.  We’re looking for any flight going through any other airport.  Chicago.  Denver.  Atlanta.  Dallas.  No dice.  Nothing.  The gate agent calls and finds out the problem isn’t Baltimore.  It’s Hartford.  The airline has cancelled all flights there.  Not only for tonight but also for the entire next day too.  The earliest flight they can book me on is 2 days later in the afternoon.

Ugh.  I decide to keep the flight to Baltimore.  At least I’m closer to home and maybe can find another way home.  And if not, one of my mom’s friends lives there.  Maybe I can visit her.

Now I’m scrambling to try and arrange something before I take off, and my flight’s leaving in about 30 minutes.  I ask my friend Ruth to look for bus, train, and car alternatives and text me.  I ask my mom to call her friend and ask if I can visit her if I can’t get out of town.  OK.  Things are in motion.  And fortunately, I have people I can really count on in time of need.

Meanwhile, I’m trying to search for stuff myself.  But the internet is slow.  We board the plane and take off.  Before we do, I know there’s no bus service to CT until Wednesday, and train service only goes as far as NY that night.  And it looks like the trains might be cancelled on Tuesday.

What are my options now?

1. Rent a car in Baltimore and drive home
2. Take the train to NY and rent a car to drive home
3. Take the train to NY and find a car service to drive me home
4. Stay in Baltimore

Now I pay for the wireless so I can chat with Ruth and my mom.  No cars in Baltimore, and there are train tickets available.  And Ruth’s husband has rented me a car from New York.  The only thing is I have to get from Penn Station to LaGuardia Airport, because that’s the only car rental place open at 11:00 at night.

Whew!  We now have a plan.  Plane to Baltimore.  Shuttle to train station.  Train to New York.  Taxi to airport.  Rental car to Hartford.  No problem!!!  All done via Google search and text messaging.  Planes, trains, and automobiles.

Now I can at least rest a bit, knowing I have a plan.  I sit back in my seat on the plane, and then on the train, to enjoy the ride.  Now all I have to do is stay awake until about 1:30 am or so, when I figure I’ll get home.

All goes according to plan.  And there are tons of other people doing something similar.  The train is packed with people who were supposed to fly to New York and their flight was cancelled.  And the bus to the rental cars is packed with people who could only fly as far as New York and needed to get somewhere in New England.  What a zoo!

I take off from LaGuardia in my Toyota Rav-4 around 11:30 pm, and it’s not even snowing yet.  It’s kind of raining. Somewhere along the route, it begins to snow.  It’s coming down pretty hard, but it’s not sticking to the road at all.  I drive the entire way to my house with the snow not sticking to the road.  So grateful that I don’t have to navigate slippery roads at 2:00 in the morning after a VERY long day of travel.

I made it home safe and sound.  All because my friends came to my aid.  And we kept a cool head so we could quickly figure out what the options were.

When things happen that are out of our control, we have a choice to make.  We can spend our energy being angry, yelling at people who are trying to do the best they can, or crying over what we’ve lost.  Or we can figure out what to do next.  We can quickly assemble our team, research options, and quickly assess.

That’s what we did anytime we had a problem with our systems at work.  Our conversion program wasn’t balancing.  The connection to the bank’s wire system broke and we couldn’t send money to our clients.  Or the software we just installed had an unexpected problem.  Just like my trip home from Los Angeles, we had to quickly decide what to do.  Come up with the best plan based on the facts we had at the time.

Waiting for more, better information is often not the best strategy.  Often, the new information isn’t as good quality as what you originally got.  And taking more time doesn’t yield a better decision.  Sometimes it even makes it worse, because the problem gets bigger.  Sometimes quick action is better than no action at all.

I’m convinced that had I not asked my friend to reserve that car in the mid-afternoon, there would have no cars available by the time I got to New York.  There weren’t any in Baltimore.  We went with the data we had, and acted on it.  I encourage you to do the same.

A while back I offered a copy of my decision-making matrix.  If you didn’t pick up a copy and would like one, just send an email to kathleen@kathleenannthompson.com.

The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your decisions.  Learning how to make strong decisions under pressure is important.  Learning how to make good decisions with limited information is as well.  And learning when enough information is enough.  All are keys to making quality decisions.

Have you recently had to make a decision quickly, under pressure, or with scant information?  Leave a comment and share your story.