Permission Granted

The old saying, “it’s easier to seek forgiveness than ask permission” is one I often quote, however I’m not sure that I ever actually do it.

Hi, my name is Donna and I’m an upfront permission seeker.

It’s those moments of uncertainty where we often lean on this “seek forgiveness” idea to justify our actions. We figure if we didn't know it would be a problem, we can always apologise later if needed.

But is it really easier? ?? I’m not so sure.

How many chunks of attention do we end up using up with the worry of getting “busted”.? Not that I think it’s a sleep losing thing, but it certainly takes up a bit of mental capacity.

Instead of risking a "no" and flying under the radar with a "maybe," perhaps asking permission upfront is the simpler route.

A while back I was part of a small business networking group.? There was about 150 of us that used to gather quarterly. There was an unwritten rule that you weren’t allowed to “sell to the room”, so when a number of people in the group, found out that I ran a particular program (via the grapevine) and started asking if they could come along, I felt compelled to speak to the moderators of the group to check that this was ok.

It was.

Now, you could argue that they approached me, but the rule was a clear one, and the risks for me were too high.? I would have lost sleep wondering if or when I was going to be “busted”.

We're in the age of entitlement. Everything's just a click away, with freebies everywhere. We've come to expect things to be free and effortless. But, as my friend Janine Garner says, there's always a price. And trying to outsmart people or the system might cost us more than we bargained for.

I’m here for peace of mind, even if it means I may have to face the odd “no”.

Here’s a link to an awesome article on this topic by Yonason Goldson published in Fast Company (there may be a paywall).