If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.
A long time ago, I came across this little gem of advice—I can’t remember where—and tucked it away in my mind. It sat quietly for a long while until, one day several years ago, it became useful.
My niece Nicole and I were dining at a restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area. Jace¹, a server, sashayed over to our table beaming a smile so bright, his step so deliberate, we could have taped a toothpaste commercial.
I felt an immediate connection. As happens often with me and people I don’t know, over the course of our lunch, Jace shared a deeply personal detail: He was 27 years old and had never dated. He said he had his “eye on a guy”, but was too afraid to ask him out, fearing he’d say no.