A few weeks ago I was on my way home from San Francisco and had a 4-hour layover. This was a good chance to get caught up on emails and get some work done, so I sat down at my gate ready to get cranking. Not long after I had gotten settled in, a woman sits down a few chairs down from me, turns on her phone and starts watching a reality TV show. Nice and loud. With no headphones. UGH.
I was so annoyed. I found it super distracting, and couldn’t believe she could be so inconsiderate! Of me! Who was just sitting there trying to get work done!
My first reaction was just to sit and fume. After a few minutes of that, I started shooting dirty looks at her. Surely she would see me, understand that this meant I didn’t like her behavior, and change it. Because that’s how it works, right?
It didn’t work.
Either she didn’t notice me, didn’t care, or had no idea why I was looking at her with such a rude face. After about 10 minutes of fuming and dirty looks (and absolutely zero productivity), I decided it was time for a new plan.
Sometimes you just need to find a new seat!
I could tell you that I went to her and very thoughtfully asked if she could put some headphones in. Which I could have, but the truth is we don’t always need to have some big hash it out moment. I realized that I was sitting in a GIANT airport with zillions of seats all over the place. There were probably plenty of places I could be that didn’t have someone three seats down watching some reality show on full blast.
So, I hit the pause button on my fuming, and realized I just needed to find a new seat. It really was that simple. I packed my stuff up, went for a little walk, got a snack (many of my solutions involve a snack!), found a new seat and got back to work.
The truth is, being Thoughtfully Fit is not always some big revelation. It does not always involve resolving conflict or working towards win-win. Sometimes pausing and thinking can show you that the solution is SO simple that you won’t believe you didn’t think of it an hour ago.
As you are working towards becoming Thoughtfully Fit, I challenge you to explore the simple solution first! Where do you just need to find a new seat?
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