The doors closed the moment she reached the platform. Visual discontent was evident in her face and body language as she tossed her head back in frustration. She missed the metro by one second.
If she had started down the stairs five seconds after the doors closed, she would have missed the train by a significant amount. There would have been no frustration. She would have patiently waited for the next train, completely oblivious to the discontent of the actual situation.
We often languish when we narrowly miss a target. It’s said that no one is more dissatisfied than second place because they tasted victory and achievement only to come up short. First losers, some call them.
This cognitive bias is what I call a “Proximity Fallacy” – the closer we miss the target, the more negative emotion we experience. Ironically, it’s the individual that misses the mark by a long shot that cares the least, even though they should feel the most dissatisfied.
Aiming and missing by a small margin is exactly where we want to be. Observe the heightened frustration as a positive sign of how close the target really is. Do not allow the negative emotion to dissuade us – we’re on the right path.
