Want to try a fun experiment? Try being unreasonable once a day. That is, try asking for something unreasonable. Something you previously considered too “outrageous” to ask for before.

This will really stretch your boundaries as to what is possible.

Now the interesting thing is that the thing you are requesting might only be unreasonable to you. Maybe you are in the exact right place and right time for your request to be granted.

Now I have been doing this for a while and have received complimentary rounds of golf, hotel stays and most recently the largest paying consulting contract ever – just because I asked.

The trick with this exercise is to really have fun with it. For example if you happen to find yourself talking with a television reporter for some odd reason, why not ask if you can have your own television show? I recently read where this actually happened!

Keep in mind, it’s important to be OK (and not be attached to the outcome) with someone declining your “unreasonable” request because by it’s nature it’s unreasonable (but so what!)

So the main thing here is to really go out and ask for what you want in life. You’ll be utterly amazed at the surprises in store for you. Especially if you don’t put undo importance and meaning to people declining your request.

Just to get you thinking I’ll put together a small list to get your brain working in this direction. Also it might be a good idea to put up a little post-it or note on your computer as a visual reminder to “be unreasonable once a day”

1. Ask for a huge sum of money
2. Ask for time off
3. Ask him/her out
4. Request a partnership
5. Ask for a gallery deal at that blue-chip gallery
6. Ask that your debt be forgiven (or at at least a few months)
7. Ask that rock-star artist for advice
8. Request a book deal
9. Ask for a TV show
10. Ask for a complimentary resort stay

Obviously this is just the tip of the iceberg. You are only limited by your imagination. The funny thing is, the more you do it the more fun and the more of a game it becomes.

George Bernard Shaw, the great playwright became a very wealthy man by penning powerful, compelling plays. He always said our first duty is not to be poor but also said,

The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him . . . The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself . . . therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

Note: Painting shown “Chinese Dancing” by American Artist, Brice Marden.