Yeah, yeah, I know the movie 300 came out years ago but I still get urges to yell the above phrase when I accomplish something that I think is equivalent in effort to climbing Mt. Everest.
And whhhhy do I feel like shouting that phrase like I have some sort of nervous tick? Well, it looks like the AMAI team's plan to create a 24-hour toll-free hotline is off to a great start. My project supervisor at AMAI mentioned a while back that she wanted me to work on developing two more things: a 24 hour hotline for health workers to call in emergencies and a website. This hotline will service both Lundazi and Nyimba districts in Eastern Province. Inside my head I laughed because I love a good challenge. Then, anxiety took over.
How was I going to pull this off?
I think I little luck, pizazz and skill helped me in getting the right corporate contacts to make the hotline development happen. I mustered up a lot of confidence (and insanity, according to one of the drivers on our team) to walk into facilities and try to sell a large idea by myself. When, I first walked into one of the telecom headquarters I told the front desk receptionist why I was there. She responded: "You want to start a...what?" Banks have hotlines, why can't non-profit organizations? The first day she advised me to write a formal letter of interest and mail it in. I sighed and reached out to people who I thought would be sympathetic to my trying to circumvent such formalities. So, the next day I tried again, this time using the word "corporate" more than once. It seemed to do the trick. When I went to another company, I explained to the gatekeeper the hotline plans and that I wanted to speak tothe Wizard a representative in telecommunications. She gave me a "Does Not Compute" glare and handed me a customer service ticket.
I bet when Al Gore created the internet people thought he was crazy too...oh, wait, that never happened. Sorry. Sometimes the only way to tame that voice in your head that says "You're crazy. This is impossible" is to enter into tasks only seeing the end result as success. Drink large amounts of ignorance every morning as a substitute for coffee; play with children and see how limits have no bounds;dance while no one's watching...you'll notice that in those examples of how to live, the fear of failure is not permitted. When you think you can't do something, you won't, but when you say "This will be no problem" anything is possible.
And whhhhy do I feel like shouting that phrase like I have some sort of nervous tick? Well, it looks like the AMAI team's plan to create a 24-hour toll-free hotline is off to a great start. My project supervisor at AMAI mentioned a while back that she wanted me to work on developing two more things: a 24 hour hotline for health workers to call in emergencies and a website. This hotline will service both Lundazi and Nyimba districts in Eastern Province. Inside my head I laughed because I love a good challenge. Then, anxiety took over.
How was I going to pull this off?
I think I little luck, pizazz and skill helped me in getting the right corporate contacts to make the hotline development happen. I mustered up a lot of confidence (and insanity, according to one of the drivers on our team) to walk into facilities and try to sell a large idea by myself. When, I first walked into one of the telecom headquarters I told the front desk receptionist why I was there. She responded: "You want to start a...what?" Banks have hotlines, why can't non-profit organizations? The first day she advised me to write a formal letter of interest and mail it in. I sighed and reached out to people who I thought would be sympathetic to my trying to circumvent such formalities. So, the next day I tried again, this time using the word "corporate" more than once. It seemed to do the trick. When I went to another company, I explained to the gatekeeper the hotline plans and that I wanted to speak to
I bet when Al Gore created the internet people thought he was crazy too...oh, wait, that never happened. Sorry. Sometimes the only way to tame that voice in your head that says "You're crazy. This is impossible" is to enter into tasks only seeing the end result as success. Drink large amounts of ignorance every morning as a substitute for coffee; play with children and see how limits have no bounds;
