Wrong Terminal, 10 Minutes to Boarding

I was in West Virginia this week for a speaking event, out in the middle of the state where there are no Ubers and no taxis to call.

A man named Steve, who was at the event, volunteered to drive me to the airport in the morning.

On the ride over he shared his story with me, and by the time we got there, we were friends.

The airport has two terminals.

Separate buildings, on opposite sides of the airport, a drive between the two.

Steve dropped me at the one everyone has always used.

I was the only person there.

At first I thought nothing of it.

I fly out of small airports all the time, and TSA often opens close to boarding.

Then a man named Chris showed up, confused.

A few more people arrived.

The parking area was closed.

Nobody was working in the building.

It started to feel like we were in the wrong place.

Stay Calm

I stayed calm.

Maybe too calm.

My comment was that they would probably show up right before boarding.

Eventually someone came in and told us the flights now leave from the new terminal.

None of us knew it was even open yet.

There were four of us left.

Me, Chris, another man, and a woman.

The woman had her car nearby with room for one, and the other man went with her.

I called Steve.

He answered right away and said he would come back and get me, his work was only a few minutes away.

No hesitation.

He was concerned.

Chris was pacing.

He was on the phone, speaker on, trying to find help, and the closest option was 20 minutes away.

He was scared he was going to miss his flight.

The woman on the phone, who I believe was his wife, kept saying, worst case, you book the next flight.

They will reschedule you.

He could not hear it.

He was too far into the stress.

What Is the Worst That Can Happen?

Boarding was at 10:15.

At 10:05, Steve rolled up.

He took Chris and me straight to the new terminal.

We got there at 10:10, and it took five minutes to walk in, get through security, and reach the gate.

We arrived right as boarding started.

Here is the thing.

I was calm because I took a breath and asked myself one question.

One of the greatest lessons football taught me was to control what you can control.

You cannot control what the team around you does.

You can control yourself.

You do not go offsides.

You control your effort, your attitude, showing up early, not just on time, and how hard you work.

That has always been my mentality in life.

And the worst case that morning was not bad.

We miss the flight, they put us on the next one a few hours later, and the day goes on.

It was never going to be the end of the world.

Chris was standing in the same situation with the same options.

The only difference was the question he never stopped to ask.

Control What You Can Control

We do this everywhere.

In business, in relationships, in the moments that feel bigger than they are.

We focus on what we cannot control and we stress over it.

Take two seconds. Take a breath. Ask what the worst case actually is, and put your energy on what you can control.

Things get better from there.

If you want to end the year strong with your team, I would love to connect and have a conversation.

Just respond to this email and let's chat.

Aaron