The Question That May Change Your Life
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The Question That May Change Your Life
There’s a story about Apple founder Steve Jobs that I love:
When he was 12 years old, he cold-called Bill Hewlett—co-founder of the pioneering technology company Hewlett Packard—to request spare computer parts for an electronics project he was working on.
Surprised by the request, Hewlett not only sent the parts, he also offered him a summer internship.
That opportunity further accelerated the young Jobs’ excitement for technology and entrepreneurship—and we all know what came from that.
Reflecting on the story, Steve Jobs said the following:
“Most people don’t get those experiences because they never ask. I‘ve never found anybody that didn’t want to help me if I asked them for help…and when people ask me, I try to be as responsive, to pay that debt of gratitude back…Most people never pick up the phone and call. Most people never ask. And that’s what separates the people who do things from the people who just dream about them.”
This prompts a question I often return to whenever I’m feeling stuck:
What would I ask for if I wasn’t afraid of hearing no?
Many of life’s doors remain closed to us—not because we knocked and were rejected, but because we never knocked at all.
One simple truth to remember:
Closed mouths don’t get fed.
There is something you’re missing in your life right now—an opportunity, a relationship, a mentor, an inflection point—not because you’re unqualified or unworthy of it, but simply because you haven’t asked.
If you want something, and you’ve done the work to deserve it, go ask for it.
The worst case? You’re told no and you’re right back in the same place.
The best case? Everything changes.
I often wonder how many extraordinary people waste their entire lives simply because they're afraid to ask for the thing they want and deserve.
Stop waiting for good things to happen. Good things don’t come to those who wait. Good things come to those who have the courage to ask. Those who confront their fear of rejection. Those who embrace it as the cost of entry.
The life you want is on the other side of the fear you’re avoiding.
So, I’ll ask again:
What would you ask for if you weren’t afraid of hearing no?
Now, do the work and go ask for it.
