Don’t Ask for Permission, Beg for Forgiveness

I had a manager who gave me this advice:

“Don’t ask for permission, beg for forgiveness.”

I love this idea.

Damn the torpedoes.

Swing for the fences.

Go for broke.

The truth is, I’ve spent most of my career asking for permission.

If you get put in a box long enough, you can take the box away and believe that you’re still in the box.

And it drives me crazy.

A few years ago, I was in a meeting with my manager.

It was Halloween and he needed to cut the meeting short to go be with his kids.

I love that.

He was an excellent manager and a good human being.

But I hate when people are waiting on me or I’m holding them up.

So, I was like a neurotic school kid.

Racing through the things I wanted to cover with him.

Deleting things from my list like a maniac.

I didn’t want to hold him up.

The thing is, he showed up late and needed to cut the meeting short.

My 30 minutes of dedicated time per week just got cut to 20, and I was the one who was on edge.

I should have calmly covered all of my points.

I should have been relaxed, spoken slowly, shown up with power. 

There are senior women I know who are cool as cucumbers under pressure.

They don’t rush.

They don’t apologize.

They don’t hedge.

I often think of them and say to myself “What would A do in these circumstances?”

It helps to keep a role model in mind, someone who shows up the way you want to show up.

Taking back my power is a lifelong journey of unlearning how to be subservient.

I’m better than I was before.

And I will get better still.

When you’re ready, there are two ways I can help:

1) I highly recommend the same 2-hour course ($150) I used to get started posting on LinkedIn (affiliate link): THE LINKEDIN OPERATING SYSTEM

2) We can work together to create a content system, tell your stories and amplify your brand: GHEIM@GRAYSONHAYDEN.COM