Ask Before You Solve

You’re stuck and you need help. You know who to ask but now the the predicting begins…

If I email her, she'll want the draft first. And the draft needs the numbers. And the numbers need a meeting. So maybe I'll wait until I have all that ready.

Three steps of imagined conversation later, the email never gets written.

We're remarkably good at predicting obstacles that haven't shown up yet. We play out the whole exchange in our heads, decide it's complicated, and retreat to safer work.

But the person on the other end hasn't read your imaginary script. They might say yes. They might point you somewhere better. They might ask for something you never saw coming, and it might take two minutes.

Every assumption about the next step is a guess dressed up as a fact. The only way to find out what happens is to let it happen.

Make the request as if you have no idea what comes next, because you don't.