Years ago, Fred and I would routinely meet at lunchtime for a run in Central Park. With its circular road and crossroads, the park offers the potential for runs of many varied distances. We would plan to run a long run one or two days a week and shorter runs on alternate days.
On those long runs, we would approach the cutoff that would take us on a shorter run and we would be tempted to consider taking the shortcut. Time pressures and tiredness were a few of the reasons that tempted us. We generally stayed the course as planned.
It taught me to stay with the plan. A lesson that has served me well over the years.