On a flight, I watched two girls negotiate their way to exit row seats.
I boarded relatively early and was in my window seat when I noticed these two girls, who were probably early 20s-aged, stalling. They had seats in the back of the plane, they told a flight attendant, but their seats weren’t together (which is what they wanted) and were hoping to find a better situation.
They hung around at the front part of the plane, waiting until all the passengers were aboard.
They asked the woman seated in the exit row aisle seat if she could sit the row behind us (also exit), leaving two empty exit row seats for these girls who hadn’t even paid for the exit row.
These girls were both picket-fence-White, by the way.
I don’t think so.
The tools these girls used to get their seats together on a very full flight:
Smiles. They were nice in asking other passengers to maneuver for them, friendly about it, and pretty enough for that to be a factor (studies show that attractive people are more likely to get more help from strangers than less attractive people).
Energy. I watched the girls wait out boarding and scour the cabin for opportunity — and what you look for, you find.
Determination. They seemed bent on making their together-seats happen, and dammit, it happened. Smiles. They were nice in asking other passengers to maneuver for them, friendly about it, and pretty enough for that to be a factor (studies show that attractive people are more likely to get more help from strangers than less…CLICK TO TWEET
Now, could a bit of ingrained privilege have played a role in this?
Is it possible that these White chicks have been raised to expect life to alter itself in their favor?
Could they have been taught that if they just smile and ask, that people will bend over backwards for them?
Maybe!! We don’t know enough to make such assumptions. But what if we were to discover that they were all true — is this a bad thing?
No.
What you should take from this story: Friendliness, energy and determination are available to everyone. Anyone can condition themselves to expect to get what you want from life (I’ll tell you how in a moment).
Most people’s problem — especially those who read or would see the above scenario and chalk it up to some invisible privilege that they don’t have — is having so much buildup of what you can’t have and what you can’t do that you would never even try what these girls tried. Most people’s problem — especially those who read or would see the above scenario and chalk it up to some invisible privilege that they don’t have — is having so much buildup of what you can’t have and what you can’t do that you would never even try…CLICK TO TWEET
So your next step is to get The Mental Workbook, which I created to help you condition your mind every day for exacting and actually getting what you want from life — even if you don’t know exactly how you’ll get it.
Order your Mental Workbook here: http://WorkOnMyGame.com/Workbook