It is a simple philosophy when you look at it but surprisingly more often than not rejection or hearing what we don’t want to hear will stop us asking the questions that we want to ask.
When you look at the worst case scenario for the majority of these situation the worst case scenario is often hearing the word ‘no’ to your question.
Seriously suck it up! Stop missing out on opportunities and ask the question!
This can be applied to so many aspects of your life but the next example is a situation where I just asked the question.
I was in Nashville at the time and had been exploring the city all day. I made my way down to LP Field, it was around late August at the time so the Football season hadn’t started yet. When I got to the field everything was locked up understandably but when I was looking through the gates trying to get a look at the stadium a worker walked by and asked what I was doing. I explained to him I was from Australia and in Nashville for a short time and I hadn’t seen a US Football Field yet. Having nothing to lose I asked him straight up “Would it be ok if I came in and had a look”. He smile and said sure why not.
And that’s all it took, he unlocked the gate for me and I got to walk straight down onto the field. It was amazing, there is something special about a completely empty stadium when you are the only person in there.
It comes down to simply asking. I had another situation at work where I wanted to take some time off to go to America for the 100th year centenary celebration of the Camp I worked at in 2012 and 2013. I knew I had a week of annual leave left after visiting Thailand earlier in the year but there was absolutely no way I was going to America for 1 week. It is too far to travel for 7 days.
I work hard and I have only ever had one sick day and that was the day I needed a small surgery. So when I asked for the time off to go to America for 3 weeks my boss checked the roster to see if anyone else had the time off and they didn’t and I got my 18 days off approved, the last 2 weeks were just unpaid leave which I was completely fine with.
But rather than just accept that I didn’t have enough annual leave to go on the holiday I desperately wanted to go on I didn’t rollover and give up on that. I just simply asked the question! If you don’t ask the question the answer is always no. That simple question lead to the best 3 weeks I had for the year.
At the AFL Grand Final this year, I got there late and I was told at the door there was only seats available on level 4, as I watched everyone walk up to level 4 I walked down to the ground level and asked the ground staff if there was any single seats left on the ground level. They said no but there are a couple of restricted viewing seats left on the ground level in Bay M40. I headed straight down to Bay M40 and got myself a seat at the very front row. Honestly I couldn’t believe it. My view was restricted but not I could see everything I needed to see. I got to soak up the atmosphere which is my favourite part of going to any game.
I could go on and on with examples where the question was simply asked. Take that knowledge today, don’t be scared to ask the hard questions just think about the worse possible outcome and realise that it is not that bad.
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