June 16, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
Getting ready to make an “ask” of a big donor? Sasha Dichter, director of business development for the Acumen Fund, has a plan to defeat the anxiety that arises in such important moments.
“‘The ask’ can make your body’s protective/panic response kick in. When you’re new to it, it feels like a standing-at-the-side-of-a-freezing-cold-pool-about-to-jump-in moment that causes so much anticipation that you freeze up –- and in so doing make the person you’re talking to freeze up as well,” he writes on his blog.
How do you get past this uncomfortable feeling?
“You start small and build up, and then keep on pushing yourself into situations that are hard, but you teach yourself to act easy,” he writes. “You teach yourself that everything is going to be OK. You learn to take the thing that you once feared, that once was difficult, and to breathe into it and be your best, most confident self even then.”
While there are various techniques to beating the anxiety — stretching, deep breathing, meditation — Mr. Dichter says that recognizing and responding to the panic response is key.
What do you think? How do you overcome anxiety-provoking big asks?
