Quote of the Week: If you don't go after what you want...

The first seven days of 2013…for many a time of reflection, resolution and hopefully…a revelation or two.

This week’s quote reminds me of the latter.

I work with people to help them get what they want.

Some of them need help deciding what they want.

Some of them need help pushing through an obstacle or two.

Sometimes an obstacle is real – sometimes not.

Sometimes an obstacle has to do with the individual I’m working with.

Sometimes it has to do with them.

Who are they anyway?

Al was Assistant Manager of the first sales team I was ever on.

A management position was opening up in another division of the company. Some of us heard that one of our teammates, Barbara, was being considered for the position.

What! That’s not fair! She had only been there a few months! Why was SHE being considered?! Why were they considering HER? It must be because…and the conversation went downhill from there, even though it made perfect sense to consider her since she had far more experience than any of us.

Anyway – Al overheard us through the cubicle wall. Oops. And he came around the corner and said, “If any of you are interested in the job, why don’t you let them know?”

Wow – what a revelation! Let them know? Ask for what we want?

All of the sudden though, not a one of us had any interest in the job. I mean. Really. Who would want that job anyway?

Just like that – right then and there – Al broke up a morale and productivity busting team discussion and we all got back to what we were supposed to be doing.

That night though, I started thinking about how fun that other job could be.

And so the next day, I went to Al and said, “Who are they anyway?”

And then, even though at 23 years old, I was the least qualified for the job, I went in and told them that I’d like to be considered.

They had already offered the job to Barbara. Oh well.

A few days later though, she turned it down due to the travel it required.

I ended up getting the job. It was a perfect match.

What if Al hadn’t heard us?

What if he hadn’t said something?

I hate to think about it.

So, in pay-it-forward fashion, when I hear questions like:

Why don’t they ever ask me to______?
Why don’t they let me ______?
Why does SHE get to ______?

I ask some combination of these questions:

Is that something you’d like to do?
If so, do THEY know you want to it?
Whoever THEY are, how about asking them?

Very often, there is a shift. An aha. A revelation.

That perhaps it’s not they that are in the way.

Use the above quote as background or wallpaper for your computer with just three clicks.

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