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You’ve gotta love Sunday. It’s the day millions of people all over the world head off to church to listen to their 
My family’s Sunday morning differed greatly. My mother was the religious one in the family so off to church she went. My father not so much. Golf was his religion. For me, Sunday morning was reserved for sleep. As such, I can’t say I know that much about the Bible. Very little in fact. However, over the years, from various sources (cartoons, books), I have learned a few quotes and stories. Some are pretty dang good.
In essence, the Bible certainly stretched the imagination, but the lessons within its stories are sound, even in the 21st century.
The other day, I was on my way to Costco and listening to my man, Jim Rohn. Even those people who are familiar with Jim’s work don’t know that he actually went to seminary school for a year so it makes sense that throughout his programs he brought up stories from the Bible.
This particular time he mentioned one of the most powerful quotes in the Bible and it’s one worth remembering. According to Matthew 7:7 (I had to look this up, if you’re wondering), “Ask…and it shall be given to you; seek…and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
If there are three skills that we all need to become better at, these are good ones – asking, seeking, and knocking.
Of the three, asking is where it all begins.
In life, you have to ask for what you want. Waiting is not the answer in most cases. Fortune favors the bold, which is why I have such a problem with Rhonda Byrne’s bestselling book The Secret. The secret being the “the law of attraction” which in a nutshell states that whatever consumes your thoughts is what you will eventually get in life.
Sounds awesome, right? Wrong. Here’s the problem with that, where’s the action? No doing. Just thinking, waiting and hoping. That’s not going to get it done. We’ve got to become good askers.
Here is a good list of things to ask for:
– Ask that guy, or girl, you like out.
– Ask for bigger challenges
– Ask for more knowledge.
– Ask for their business.
– Ask your boss for a raise. (if you’ve earned it)
– Ask for more skills.
My favorite quote from Jim is, and always has been, “Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better,” which aligns with asking. Don’t back away from challenges. Instead face them head on, and push yourself to become stronger. The stronger you get, the smaller those challenges become.
Recently, I was asked by a multi-million-dollar corporation to give two presentations. My productivity presentation was all ready to go, but my second presentation was only half done when I was informed that they wanted my second presentation first. I had less than 24 hours to finish gathering data, put together the PowerPoint slides and create the script.
I had two choices; ask for it to be pushed back, or to “man up” (not very PC of me to say, but hey) and just get it done. I chose the latter.
I spent the next eight hours digging up information and finding visuals to craft my PowerPoint presentation. In the end, the presentation went off without a hitch, and the attendees were all very impressed. After all, I am a productivity consultant, so if anyone should be able to pull off something like that, it would be someone with my skillset.
The point I’m making is that in life we always have choices. Many people shrink away from responsibility and challenge, simply because it’s tough.
Me, I say go for it.
We may fall flat on our faces, but so what? Challenges test us. They push us. They shape us.
But you’ve got to be willing to ask.
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Photo courtesy iStock Photo.
