I usually don’t think much about writing an email, but this one made me pause before pressing send. Writing David Miliband, currently the head of IRC and formerly a top MP in the UK government, is not something I do everyday.

David spoke at the CrisisMappers Conference I attended last year in New York City and invited people to write to him if they were working on developments to change humanitarian aid for the better and needed organisations to work with to test and scale their innovations. So I’ve pitched Give Aid Direct to him – figuring out how to do this in 5 sentences wasn’t the easiest, but I gave it a shot.

As Seth Godin often says, ideas and opportunities are everywhere, what we do with them is what sets us apart. So I’ve given it a shot, we’ll see if he responds, but I’ve done it now. Weirdly, when I heard David offer the opportunity, I immediately thought I should write him about Give Aid Direct – that was November last year and it took till now to get around to write him.  I could tell you I’ve been busy (which is true!), but at it’s heart, I’ve been scared to write, scared to be rejected yet again.  Most of us likely feel this way about many opportunities, but after pressing send to David, I wrote a bunch of others asking to work with them to test and scale the Give Aid Direct idea.  Getting past one barrier propels us to clear more.

So get out there, give it a shot, what do you have to lose?  Oh, and by the way, the ball is in your court David.