The Risk of Wasted Time

A reader named Tom Lehnert of Herndon, Virginia, lobs a query that should be filed somewhere between Existentialism and Opportunity Cost:

Have you heard this before: If you don’t miss a plane now and then you’re spending too much time in airports.
Or the corollary: If you don’t get a ticket now and then you’re wasting time in traffic.

Although I very much value efficiency, I never a) miss a plane or b) get a speeding ticket. That would explain why I a) expend so much effort (too much?) trying to maximize my time in airports; and b) live in New York City, where I don’t have to drive much, and therefore avoid traffic.