Get Brilliant at Asking!
I am great at making commitments to myself but if it were not for my commitment buzzer, my wife Shweta, I would have missed at least a couple of them. so here I am visiting a shopping mall with my parents and brothers(who are visiting us) on the weekend and wife reminds me of my commitment to take them to a restaurant close which I love because of its innovative ambiance and its lovely food (I am a big foodie!) In one section of this restaurant there is this train coupe' which is the center attraction of this restaurant. The only glitch is that it serves only 4 people at a table. Now coming to this restaurant and not sitting in the coupe' on the same table with the whole family doesn't make sense. So what did I do? I went and asked the manager permission for all 6 of us to sit in the coupe’. I didn't push. I was polite. And I gave him the solution upfront so that he can think about it instead of thinking for the possible solution. And he agreed! But the brilliance of asking doesn't stop here. After 15 minutes into the dinner, my commitment buzzer buzzed again. In the midst of all the shopping excitement, we had forgotten that it's my brothers' birthday tomorrow and though we have bought and baked two cakes for them, we have forgotten to buy birthday cards for them. I rushed down the mall where there is an Archies shop (I consider them a constant workshop of innovation and creativity - two skills which differentiate extraordinary from ordinary leaders) But I was late. As I reached the shop, the shop has already flipped the board other way round stating it to be closed and the shopkeeper was doing book keeping. Here again, the brilliance of asking worked! I asked and he let me in for 5 minutes which was more than enough for me to find two beautiful cards for my brothers.
At times we let the opportunities slip out of hands thinking that perhaps asking might not help and later regret it wondering what would have happened if we would have asked for it. I have experienced it my self that whenever I have asked for something, I have got something out of it, if not the thing asked, then the wisdom to ask it in an even better way or time.
