In this episode, I offer the question, “Is it enough to know what you want?” Well, the short answer is no.
As a Coach for entrepreneurs and folks in the C-Suite, we talk quite a bit about this. I have a belief that everyone knows what they want – they just don’t know how to talk themselves into it.
But in a mic-drop, coaching-the-coach moment I shared with Todd Musselman [Episode 338], he suggested that it’s not enough to know what you want – you need to make a bold request. Listen to the entire podcast – it’s something to think about, something to talk about.
I hope you’ll join me for this episode!
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Website: https://mikemalatesta.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemalatesta/
Full transcript below.
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Transcript
343. Is It Enough to Know What You Want.01.13.2023
Thu, Dec 29, 2022 1:23PM • 7:48
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
todd, podcast, episode, bold, request, coach, talk, friday, pull requests, met, businesses, mic drop moment, vistage, roost, spotify, told, today, muscleman, calls, guts
00:20
Hey, everybody, it’s Mike. And this is the “How’d It Happen” Podcast, solo series, the short shows that I do every Friday where I talk about something that is on my mind, something that interests me or something that I’ve heard about that I think you’ll enjoy. It’ll give you something to think about and consider as well. So, every Friday I do these episodes; every Monday, I drop a longer episode, usually around an hour, where I’m having a great conversation with a successful person from all walks of life, about how it happened for them. So, it’s a really cool way to talk about their success and not just how it happened, but ultimately, why it matters, why it matters to you why it matters to me, it matters to the world.
So today’s short episode is called “Is it enough to know what you want?” Is it enough to know what you want? Well, the short answer is no.
Some of you might know that I’m a coach for entrepreneurs and CEOs and people in the C suite. And when I coach or mentor a client, I always ask a simple question, What do you want? And I have this saying, and actually Scott Ferguson who I had on my podcast a few episodes ago, he wrote this down when I said it, so he’s showing it to me and people and talking about it. It’s very simple as this is a belief that I have that everybody knows what they want; they just don’t know how to talk themselves into it. Everybody knows what they want. They just don’t know how to talk themselves into it. And in my experience, it’s not hard to answer the what-do-you-want question because the person doesn’t know what they want — that’s not why it’s hard to answer it. It’s hard to answer the question, because the person doesn’t know or believe that it’s okay to ask for what they want. And I believe that everybody knows what they want. They just don’t know how to talk themselves into it, as I said.
And while telling you what you want is the first step, it’s unfortunately not enough. And this came to roost with me even with my episode with Todd Musselman [Episode 338], which wasn’t that long ago, either. But Todd is one of the greatest coaches and storytellers I’ve ever met. I met him through Vistage, which is an organization that I belong to where I get together with 10 other people that are also running businesses. And we talk about our businesses, we help people, we help each other with our businesses. And then we have people come in, experts come in and talk to us about something that’s valuable to us that can help us become better leaders, and Todd was one of the speakers about a year ago, and I met him and I had him on my podcast. And he reminded me that asking for what you want, or in Todd’s words, he calls it making a bold request, making a bold request, that’s really essential to getting what you want. It’s not enough to know what you want; you have to be willing to make a bold request, to make an ask to get what you want. He told me that the most successful people he’s ever met are the ones who are not afraid or ashamed to ask for what they want. And you know, that was like a mic-drop moment for me in our conversation. And it made me think, Do I make bold requests about what I want? Do I make bold requests about what I want?
I desperately wanted to answer that question whether Yes, I’m telling you, but I could not. Because I quickly thought of two or three things that I want. For example, I want my coaching business and my impact to be 10 times what it is right now. I want my podcast to be in the top 100 podcasts. It’s not even close. I need your help with that. Thank you. I want my family to be as rich with love and memories as it can be. It’s not bad. I know I could do better than that with that. But I have not had the guts to make a bold request for any of those.
And I said to Todd, because I was thinking about it while we were doing the podcast, I said, I should make a bold request for these things that I want. And he, in his soft voice that he has, he asked me if he could respond to that. And I said, Sure, of course, respond. That’s why I’m here. That’s what I want from you.
And then he told me that when I stopped thinking that I should make a bold request, and choose instead, to want to make a bold request, and to actually make a bold request, that’s when I would make progress. And it was a coach-being-coached moment. So I’m very, very thankful to Todd for that. And I just want to leave you with that. Know what you want. You already know that; almost everybody knows what they want, but are you willing to make a bold request? Are you willing to ask for what you want?
I’m going to be making bold requests. That’s one of my goals for 2023. Anything that I want, that I would ordinarily have been like, ah,you know, I’m just going to say, I want this, I need this. I’m going to ask for the help because Todd’s experience, and I think it will be mine as well, and I know it has been when on the times when I have made pull requests, when I have asked for help, is that people will line up to help me and they’ll line up to help you as well.
So are you ready to ask for what you want?
Thanks so much for joining me for this episode. If you are new to the podcast and you like it, please tell your friends please subscribe or follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Go to my website. You can learn more about me there, Mikemalatesta.com, join me every Monday and Friday for an episode and I thank you for investing your time with me today.
And until next time, please maximize the greatness that’s inside of you.
