Oh, Just Do It!

Now for some fun. I was off to Kaldi Coffee in Kirkwood to see who I could find with a backpack. A coffee shop should be a target rich environment. I figured I would just stroll in, order some coffee and find somebody with a backpack. I would walk up to them, ask them if they would talk to me and jump right in. I mean this is just the type of thing I encourage my clients to do. As a speaker It is the thing I tell my audiences to do. Then it should just come naturally to me.

I sometimes think I do presentations about fear because I have so many of them. But at the same time people call me the most fearless person they know. What they do not understand is that I am not fearless. I just am willing to face my fears and accept the consequences. So what is the worst thing that is going to happen when I walk up to this backpack-toting-man and ask him if he will talk with me? In reality the worst thing that will happen is he will say, “No.”

That is what I try to impress on people as a speaker and coach. When someone say, “no” they are not passing judgment on you. They are just saying no. There may be any number of reasons for it. But in all probability the reason has little to do with you personally. They didn’t know you before the contact and they will not know you afterwards. It is simply a stranger saying “no” to your request. This happens all the time.

As I sit here writing this I realize that I am in one of the avoidance action stages that I talk about so much. The task at hand it to go talk to the man with the backpack. But instead I am writing this blog post about it. So, here goes. I’ll tell you more about what happens in an upcoming post.

Your thoughts and comments are appreciated. Let me know what you think of this project or backpacks in general.

What’s in your backpack?