Open

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/danschawbel/files/2011/09/dave-ramsey.jpg

If you're in financial trouble, read Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover." In his companion class, Financial Peace University, Dave uses a great illustration of how money works. (Take it from me and Josh, it will change your entire life. More on that later).

Imagine someone puts a $20 bill on your outstretched, open palm. You have two choices. Your first choice is to close your fingers around that money, balling your hand into a tight fist. You hold on to the money tightly.

The other option is to keep your palm open. And Dave says, "Even a dog understands this one," as he bends down and whistles for an imaginary dog to come over to him.

When your fist is balled tightly around your money, none can get out. At the same time, none can get in, either. In contrast, the open hand allows money to flow. Some may  go out, but some might come in too.

When I've been the most stuck, it helps to keep Dave's "open hand theory" in mind. I'm not saying to go out and spend your last dime! Absolutely not! But I am saying to get creative.

How can you spend money creatively to make more money? Maybe it's spending a couple hundred dollars with a marketing coach to give you ideas on how to maximize your marketing budget. Maybe it's spending a day with a business coach to give you insight on getting un-stuck. Maybe it's as simple as taking someone out to lunch and asking their perspective on where you're at.

Money naturally wants to move around... maybe that's why they call it currency. Loosen that death grip a little bit, take a deep breath and see what happens.

Ask

Asking for help is the hardest part.

I'm a huge Titanic buff. I seriously thought I was in love with Bob Ballard as an Elementary schooler. This obsession predates the movie by about a decade, people... of which the only redeeming factor was the live underwater footage and the sets... but I digress.

http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/when-did-titanic-try-for-help-11390.html

The ship is sinking. The water is pouring in through the gaping hole in the side of the hull, and the monstrous luxury liner is getting heavier and heavier. The passengers are standing on the bow of the sinking boat, stymied. The unsinkable ship is sinking. Preposterous!

The only ones with any sense are the young radio operators, Harold Bride and Jack Phillips buried in the bowels of the ship watching the water rise slowly toward the wires of the Marconi (telegraph, more or less) machine, tapping out SOS...SOS...SOS... into a clear, freezing dark night.


Can you imagine sinking on an unsinkable ship? Sometimes we think our lives, our relationships, our businesses are unsinkable. That things are going to continue along the course we've charted, and all will be well with the world once we get to our port of call. That there's no way our plan could be flawed... Preposterous!

We're really just sinking on our own personal Titanic.

As captain of our own lives, we have to recognize when there are problems. The biggest challenge--for me anyway--has always been humbling myself to ask the hard questions. We're inundated with messages that it shows weakness to ask for help. But basic human nature makes us need each other.

Sometimes it's hard to connect. To be so vulnerable that someone sees the darkest bowels and the innards of the boiler room of my ship is... challenging, to put it mildly. I feel like I have to present myself as perfect, or dire consequences will come. They won't like me. They will think ill of me. They will shun me or ostracize me or alienate me.

The biggest part of what Harold Bride and Jack Phillips accomplished that night was to ask. They sent out the message that they needed help. They were alerted to a problem by the captain, and immediately sent out a distress call.

What's your heart calling? What challenge are you facing? (The first thing that popped in your head is the right thing).

Who do you trust right now to call with that? (The first person who popped in your head is the right person).

My advice? Call that person with that thing right now. Send out your SOS and get a new perspective. Maybe you don't need to evacuate to the lifeboats... Maybe they can show you how to patch the holes in the boat.

Just ask.
Now maybe I should get about calling Bob Ballard...