Lessons From the Sailboat

On a recent interview with Nancy Ferrari, I talked about courageous dialogue and bouncing forward. Bounce Forward has four components:  Courageous Dialogue, Stress Management and Resilience, Teamwork by Design and The ASK.  These are four essentials to bouncing forward through life and business challenging times.  When Nancy invited me to share how I define the ASK, here is what I said:

ASKS that make a difference:

A- Ask for what you need, don’t assume, and be clear

S- skills- practice your ask so that it is clear, comfortable and you are confident

K-kindness to others and receiving graciously keeps the ask cycle going

Think of a few asks that you can use as your practice asks.  Maybe it is asking for help. Or advice. Maybe it is to help solve a problem.  When you ASK, it sets the stage in a relationship (e.g. a workplace relationship) for others to do the same of you.

Nancy also asked me about our "sailboat story". You may know this story already, especially if you have read my book On Toby's Terms or Bounce Forward, I talk about this near death experience, and it has also formed the basis of my most popular keynote presentation.  Years ago my husband Christoper and I had a near death sailboat accident. Swimming for our lives challenged my resilience in ways I had not thought possible. It was the true test of bouncing forward or back.  After we were rescued, and I had time to reflect, I discovered that to enjoy sailing again I needed to push through my fear of sailing and getting back on the boat.  In sailing, and in life remember...We can always change course, but we can’t get time back.

Fear also stops people from asking, and many times by the time you muster up the courage, the opportunity has gone.  You can always change course, just like we do in sailing, if things don't go well, but, you can't get back time and missed opportunities.

http://www.beachcitiesradio.com/on-air/wednesday/the-nancy-ferrari-show  June 20, 2012 Show Link
 
Happy ASKing!