This short YouTube video (advice-format) features Sabri Suby answering Ash Ronald’s question about being unable to pick up the phone (cold calls). Sabri’s core prescription is psychological: the root cause is a weak or small "why"—lack of an emotionally compelling goal—so he advises clarifying a burning desire (vision board, identity work, focus on impact beyond self) so the ‘how’ (making calls, taking risks) becomes easy. The clip ends with a brief sign-off noting it was recorded during lockdown in Melbourne and a request to like/subscribe.
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This week on hey Subway, I'm going to be answering Ash Ronald's question. He's written, hey Sabri. I'm usually a very confident person, but I can't pick up the phone. So I assume what you're talking about here is that you can't pick up the phone to make a cold call. And you know, this is one instance of a very specific case of like, I can't pick up the telephone to make cold calls. But that appears in lots of different forms for a lot of different people that might be like, I can't interview people, I can't get an office space, I can't do any of these things. And really what that tells me is that your why is not big enough. You're not really focused on, you know, why you need to pick up the telephone. And the best way to overcome any of that fear, any of that self doubt, that imposter, imposter syndrome or whatever it might be, is just to really get clear on why are you going to even make a phone call? Like why? What's the point of it? Why not just Netflix and chill? And so you need to think about exactly where it is that you want to go. And that must be an absolute burning desire. That thing must freaking set your soul on fire. You must be willing to run through walls, to crawl across crushed glass to get to that outcome. Then you'll make as many phone calls as you need to to get to that outcome. You'll take the risk, you'll get an office space, you'll do all the things that you need to do. Because the why is so big that the how becomes easy. And that' the case, then your why is simply not big enough. You might be optimizing for self interest and being a selfish person and not focusing on, you know, all the other things that you want to do in your life and all the other people that you can impact. And that is where you kind of form that why. Like when you, when you like, see a lot of people that are thinking small or, you know, they're complacent, living a certain way, it's, it's not something they would self identify with, but it's because they are being selfish and they don't think about having to help out family or friends or a family member when they're in need or donate to a charity or a church or anything that you want to make an impact to. That's all additional things. So my advice would be to you is to find out exactly where it is that you want to go. Be true to that. Make it a huge, huge motivation for you. Have a vision board. Get clear on the type of person that you would need to become in order to reach that end outcome. Before you sit down to make your cold calls is really get on purpose and remind yourself, like, why is it that you're doing all this stuff? Like, what is it you're trying to optimize for? And then you won't even care. Like, you'll just be like, just give me that phone. Let me make a phone call right now. Like, I have to get to this solution. And if you're still struggling, you just need to keep on digging and finding exactly what is that thing inside you that's gonna light your soul on fire so you can get after it. I hope that helps. Hey, guys, we're coming to you from lockdown in Melbourne. If you enjoyed this video, please like and subscribe. Share it with a friend. We're dropping a video like this every day on YouTube and I'll see you in the next video.
