8 minute catch up. A hack to life.
I got a call from a friend who asked if I had time for a coffee. I was honest and said I’m happy to catch up but not for a few weeks as I’m underwater. He said no problem.
I got a call from the same friend three weeks later saying do you have time for a coffee. I didn’t, this time I took an action and I put it into my calendar to catch up in two weeks.
We caught up. He wasn’t in a good way, emotionally, financially he was struggling and this was leading to issues at home and with self worth
I said you should have told me you needed to catch up. Nothing is more important than a friend. I didn’t understand it was an emergency. Time is elastic and priorities change.
He said I did I told you I needed a coffee…
I said I get asked for a coffee four times a week. What we need is a code word so I know if it’s coffee or a mental coffee. I would drop anything to help if I know.
So we can up with “I need 8 minutes”.
Do you think you are explaining yourself and not being heard?
Perhaps you need to set up an 8 minute catchup with your trusted network.
The beautiful thing is it works both ways. Remember if you want to be helpful to someone to ask for help.
I feel very comfortable in going to my friend and asking for help now he has asked me for help.
You can’t expect people to come to you if you never go to them. I have asked him for that 8 minutes I am not sure I would have if he hadn’t asked me.
It set up a massive change in my thinking and in asking for help, knowing that if I tell people I am struggling they can then feel more open to ask me as we all need someone at some point