A Story of Two Doors

I know of a man who takes the subway to work in the morning. As he descends the escalator he would single out either of the two nearest doors at the waiting platform.

Now, from past experiences of morning peak hour he knows that the door nearest to the escalator has a lot more passengers who would be alighting from the train than those at the second door. 

Also, of late, he has observed that the train schedule has been tightened such that even before the passengers at the first door have fully alighted, the train doors, followed closely by the platform doors, would begin to shut. As a result, the boarding passengers, especially those further along the queue would have to wait for the next train.

On the other hand, the second door has relatively lesser disembarking commuters and there is usually time enough for the commuters on the platform to board the train before the doors are shut.

This morning the man felt confident that this time it would be different. So, he decided to challenge his own knowledge by choosing the first door instead of the second door.

Sure enough, even before the load of passengers has alighted, the doors began to shut and he got sandwiched between the closing double leaf doors. Instinctively, he pulled himself out of the clamping doors to safety with dirt markings on his sleeves as proof of his five-seconds flap. He shrugged off his annoyance and then moved sheepishly to the second door.

Following from this story of two doors, there are quite a number of possible lessons we can learn from the university of life. One lesson would be not to take a gamble when the probability are stacked against us. For example, this would literally mean that it is unwise to get hooked into gambling at casinos. 

Another lesson would be to buy shares of large, well-established and financially sound public-listed companies that have operated for many years (a.k.a. blue-chip stocks) at a steep discount when the markets are down due to temporary economic conditions.

My take is that, when the research and studies have been done thoroughly of a situation as well as the options available, the standout lesson from this story of two doors would be to: 

Stand by Your Conviction and Go for It!  

Afterthought

Speaking of doors, here are just some quotes to tickle your brain:-

"Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea." -- Jim Rohn

"You can choose not to sit on the fence. You can choose not to criticise. You must stand as guard at the door of your own mind and choose to be positive." -- Gail Kelly

"When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." -- Alexander Graham Bell

"I was smart enough to go through any door that opened." -- Joan Rivers