Stuck
Written by John Teel.
I don’t do well when I’m stuck.
This includes traffic jams, long lines, waiting rooms—anything where I’m trapped and unable to move because of other people blocking me in.
It’s why I always sit in an aisle seat in a theater or on an airplane.
I need the ability to get up and move whenever I want.
Which is why this particular day in Mexico while on vacation caused me to have a little meltdown.
We were driving down the highway when traffic suddenly came to a crawl.
No exits. No alternate routes. Just an endless line of cars stretching into the horizon.
And that’s when I realized another problem—I had been gulping down a big coffee.
We all know what coffee (or beer) makes us do. And it was starting to hit me.
At first, I tried to stay optimistic. Maybe traffic will clear up soon. Maybe we’ll start moving any second now.
Nope.
Thirty minutes passed. Then an hour. Still nothing. Just crawling movement, no explanation, and no idea how much longer this was going to last.
Meanwhile, drivers were making up their own lanes. Cars were weaving through the shoulder, squeezing into gaps that didn’t exist. I tried to stay patient, but my frustration was growing.
And also… so was my bladder situation.
Eventually, I gave in. If everyone else was making their own lane, why couldn’t I? I pulled onto the shoulder and started inching ahead.
But the coffee wasn’t going to wait for an exit. An urgent solution was needed.
So I did what had to be done—I found a spot with some nice, thick vegetation off the side of the road and took care of business even though I was clearly visible to everyone on the road.
Crisis averted.
It wasn’t until we got back home that I learned my wife had snapped a picture of me partially visible in the bushes. Apparently, she thought it was hilarious.
Finally, after two hours of being stuck, I could see the reason for the delay—construction cones up ahead.
I figured it must be something major—a new bridge, repaving, something worthy of shutting down an entire highway for hours.
But as we got closer, I saw the real reason.
There were no heavy machines. No road crews.
Just one guy.
Standing there.
Raking some gravel.
That was it.
Two hours of my life, gone—all because of some dude raking rocks.
As ridiculous as this traffic jam was, it actually taught me a valuable lesson about product development.
When you’re bringing a product to market, expect obstacles and delays.
You’ll run into roadblocks that seem just as absurd as “one guy raking rocks.”
Maybe it’s a part being backordered, a newly discovered PCB design issue, or an unexpected certification requirement. Whatever it is, it will happen.
And when it does, don’t fume about it like I did that day in traffic.
Instead, try to identify bottlenecks in advance so you can plan around them.
Think ahead.
Some delays will still be unavoidable, but if you anticipate them, you’ll be in a much better position to work around them.
And most importantly…
Make sure you go to the bathroom before you get started.
The key to avoiding these types of delays is by getting guidance from those that have been down that road before. You can get that experienced guidance inside my Hardware Academy.
