Inspiration for Your Author Asks from Business Philosopher Jim Rohn
Good working is less important than good asking—and ditch your teaspoon
In a short YouTube clip worth bookmarking, business philosopher Jim Rohn breaks down the power and art of asking into three points so simple and yet so beyond how we normally think.
1. Asking is the beginning of receiving.
Not marketing. Not hoping. Not posting. Asking. Direct, specific, clear asking is where receiving starts. If you want something—book sales, speaking gigs, partnerships, testimonials, introductions, bulk orders—you have to ask for it first.
2. The problem isn’t receiving. The problem is your failure to ask.
Receiving, Rohn says, is automatic. The ocean doesn’t run dry. Opportunities don’t disappear because someone else took them. The thing standing between you and what you want isn’t a scarcity of possibilities—it’s your reluctance to ask for them. Authors are exceptionally good at this particular reluctance.
3. Don’t come to the ocean with a teaspoon.
You’re standing at the edge of an ocean of possibility. At least bring a bucket. Or two. (Even kids know to bring buckets, not teaspoons, to the shore.) Ask bigger. Ask more specifically. Ask more often. The ocean doesn’t care how much you take—it won’t run out. But a teaspoon? That’s not even enough for your big toe to notice.
Finally, here’s the icing to wrap up Rohn’s art of asking: Good working is less important than good asking. You can outwork everyone in the room and still lose to the person who simply asks better.
How to get whatever you want
Please watch and even rewatch his video. His delivery’s awesome and hilarious.
Refreshers from the archives on asking
Tell us in the comments
What have you been working toward that you haven’t yet asked for? What’s one ask you could make this week? Of yourself? Of the universe of possibilities? Of others?
Don’t Come to This Archive with a Teaspoon
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