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Being forced to listen to something you don’t want to be listening to is a good way for you to either lose patience or practice increasing it. A crying baby on a long flight is one of those moments which forces us to listen to something we don’t want to be listening to. The ear piercing screeches coming from a surprisingly small body can make us act out in emotional ways, and serve to ruin our flight experience.
This article will advise you on how to handle being subjected to a baby’s cries thirty thousand feet in the air. Keep in mind that the specific situation of being subjected to a baby’s cries can be learned from, and the lessons can be utilized in other situations of life. The major, but simple, lesson contained below is not one of controlling the noise around you by yourself, but in finding and controlling other factors which have a higher chance of influencing the noise.
Amidst All the Noise, the Baby’s Mother Is the Focus
Nobody sitting on the plane with you knows the baby (its tendencies, likes, dislikes, interests) like its mother. She has the best chances of controlling the baby’s behavior, and her attempts to make the baby stop crying will be more successful than anyone else’s. Onlookers caught in this situation make a critical mistake of making the baby’s mother uncomfortable by placing unnecessary pressure on her. People will turn their heads and stare. They will look displeased, annoyed, disgruntled, and will operate while fueled by the emotions of being distracted by high pitched screams.
They will encourage the mother to rush in her attempts to figure out why the baby is crying, and she may forget important things in helping make the baby comfortable. If you agree that the point of focus should be the mother in such a situation, then your actions should involve to encourage the mother remain calm and to stay comfortable. Provide support for her, and do things to make her feel comfortable amidst all the people who serve to make her anxious. While everyone’s focus is on the baby, make sure you look after the needs of the mother if you have the chance. If you’re a distance away from the baby, you can do your part in encouraging people around you to have sympathy for the mother. Say, “I feel for the mother of that baby,” or “This is a difficult situation for the mother,” when everyone else look furious with all the noise and distractions.
Networking | An Exercise in Figuring Out What to Focus On
Though the baby’s cries can be debilitating, the point of this exercise is to find what to more effectively focus on. It is an analysis of the influencing factors of the baby’s behavior, and an agreement on the point that bringing comfort to its mother will result in the strongest influence on the baby’s behavior. This same notion can be discovered in many aspects of social interaction. There will be people who are more effectively influenced if you serve to influence someone they hold in high regard. For example, by making a small boy laugh at the queue for a doctor’s appointment, you can more easily strike up a positive conversation with the child’s father. The father will hold you in higher regard than a random stranger, since you’ve already made the connection with his son.
In the professional realm, this is an important technique to networking with those more powerful than yourself. Those in power, the same people you want to influence into liking you, have relationships with many other people. They trust those people, and believe them when they tell them things. Figure out who influences the minds of those you want to set a good impression for, and merely be your best self with the more accessible people. Do not make explicit attempts at networking with who you want to work with, rather, make authentic attempts at connecting with the people who will serve to improve your reputation through sharing your positive traits via word of mouth.