Don’t make assumptions.
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
Here’s my tip for this Tuesday.
Ask.
It’s the most amazingly powerful thing.
Just ask for what you want.
Remember that asking is different from demanding. You must be able to accept the word “no.” (It’s rarely life-threatening outside of medical situations.)
You can ask for a raise. You can ask for improvements in your living situation. You can ask for help, for information, for contacts, for instruction.
Now, I’m not advocating sitting by the side of the road and asking everybody who walks by for a million dollars. I think you have to be working hard for yourself before you ask. But if you are, it’s amazing how often people step up.
Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. This is my absolute favorite quote, and it goes all the way back to Seneca who died in 65 A.D. (That’s a while ago.)
By asking, I once got a very lucrative job working four hours a day. By asking, I got my first opportunity to direct. By asking, I was incredibly fortunate to have a famous (and, more importantly, absolutely wonderful) actress do a reading of my play. By asking, I got more readings and, now, a production.
Do I attribute all of that to asking?
No.
Of course, I had to be good at the job for people to be willing to work with me on hours. The play had to be the best I could make it. I had to behave professionally, respectfully and responsibly.
But, I could have—and, once upon a time, would have—been afraid to ask.
Now, I know:
The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
…and for the person who asks.
