I've had an 8 hour layover dropped to 45 minutes before. You genuinely don't know the length of your layover until your first plane lands regardless of what you booked.

And what if your first flight gets delayed by several hours for any number of reasons?

Not everyone books their own flights. When I traveled for work the executive assistant booked ours. She tried to give us long enough layovers, but it's not always an option.

This is the way to think about it. Maybe a little less condescending, but que sera. I do everything I can to be on time, and I'm early 99% of the time, and so if shit happens and I'm caused to be late, through either my own fault or that of others, que sera. I'll notify whoever needs notifying and just go along.

Shit happens. And shit compounds shit. I refuse to stress over it and make everything worse.