Why You Should Just Pick Up the Phone and Ring it Up.

I listened to the legendary Steve Jobs give an interview about taking the initiative to make a call. In the interview, he hinted that he often thought of seeking help and simply picked up the phone and dialled it at the snap of a finger. Listening keenly, I picked some sense and decided that going forward I would be picking up my phone and making those calls for help.

But it is easier said than done. Before someone decides to ring somebody to seek help, they go through an unwritten kind of mental screening to see if the person ticks the boxes. And that is where we get it wrong perhaps from the word go.

For instance, someone will ask themselves if they know the other person in the first place. If they don’t, the issue stops at that. If they do, they proceed to the next box and see if they have been in communication in the recent past. If not, that stops there. If there has been some sort of contact, they may proceed to the next box and the whole thing goes on and on and on.

The catch is that sometimes, there is no perfect screening where an individual gets to tick all the boxes. This simply means that in the end, somebody can do the whole screening and not make any call because nobody met all the ‘prerequisite requirements’ for a perfect helper.

Sometimes the difference lies in picking up the phone.

There are times when we have an issue and need to seek some clarification. The phone would be right in front of us but then a tag of mental war crops and we get caught up in the mix of either deciding to pick it up or let it be. There are times when it becomes very hard to make a phone call.

The downside of not picking up the phone is that one does not know exactly how the other party would respond. In their mind, they see a negative answer or reaction when in truth the response would have been positive. So, it is far more prudent to call and get rejected than to reject oneself through psychological prejudgments and prejudices.

It is not wrong thus to conclude that one of the differences between the people who succeed and those who don’t lies in taking the initiative to seek out help even when that seems to be the worst option. As always, what is the worst that can happen? Just a rejection.

The fear that the call will not be picked up.

As a rule, not all the calls that we will ever make will be picked. There is nothing like absolute certainty regarding outcomes in most areas of our lives. Phone calls are not any different. When you call people, some will pick up the phone and some will not. But you cannot know the difference unless you take the initiative and make the call in the first place.

Never engineer your excuses and justification that the person you would be intending to call is busy when they have not told you so. It doesn’t matter how senior they are, simply give it a try as long as you have their contacts and if you don’t, you can look for them or their emails.

Lisa Vidal said that when you want something so badly, you just do it. You don’t think how hard it is going to be. On the same note, Bree Runway further reiterated that it is okay to feel fear but do it anyway. That is the mentality. Even if you’re scared, just do it.

The message is clear. Let go of the fear and personal prejudices and make those calls. The same could be said of the need to approach people in the case where the phone needs not to be picked up. That small act can end up making a whole big difference in the trajectory of your life.

Finally, return the favour. If you call someone and they pick up their phones and offer you that help that ends up making a huge difference, pick up others’ calls and offer the help as best as you can. That way, we can make a big difference in this world.