This surprising and underutilized approach to your success will set you apart from the pack.
Everybody knows Steve Jobs, and most people are aware that his incredibly unique (and often controversial) mindset paved the way for big success at Apple.
What most people don’t know is that he attributes much of his success to a mindset he developed at just age twelve.
In an interview with Steve Jobs, he narrated how at just 12 years old, he decided to call no less than Bill Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, just to ask if Hewlett could give him some spare parts for the frequency counter that he was trying to build that time. Lo and behold, Hewlett willingly agreed to give him what he asked for and even offered him a summer job at his company to assemble frequency counters. The rest, as they say, is history.
“Most people don’t get those experiences because they never ask. I never find anybody that didn’t want to help me if asked them for help,” said Steve Jobs.
Many of us either have no idea that we could benefit from help, or are too afraid to come forward because we assume this is seen as weakness, or a lack of intelligence.
However, the truth is that it takes a strong person to ask for help. The most successful people in this world could not have achieved all that they have without a little help along the way.
The one piece of advice you need to hear as a current, or future, successful businessperson or entrepreneur is that it is absolutely acceptable — and necessary — to seek help when you need it.
As Oprah Winfrey said, “You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.”
A Harvard Business School Study called “Smart People Ask For (My) Advice: Seeking Advice Boosts Perceptions of Competence” even revealed that when a person seeks advice, it bounces back as a positive impression on them.
When asking becomes an instinct rather than an effort, you will find that many opportunities are left undiscovered. You get to maximize all the chances to learn new things to improve yourself and find solutions to most critical conflicts that you may encounter.
There are three simple steps for implementing this habit:
First,
you have to understand that if your goal is to succeed in your chosen career, you definitely need guidance from mentors, experts, or professionals. The truth is that they have more experience — experience that you need in order for you to arrive at smarter decisions. This is a quality that ultra-successful people have mastered over time.
Second,
like Steve Jobs, know that there are inevitable instances when your resources — whether tangible or not — would be lacking. So if you wholeheartedly believe that you are an achiever and not just a dreamer, you know for a fact that you need to ask for any available help.
Depending on the scale, you can turn to your own network like family, friends, or colleagues, and even from firms that professionally do financial consultations.
Third,
Asking demands trust. The formula of trust is simple. If you want other people to trust you, you have to show them the same thing. Furthermore, in the road to becoming wealthy and successful, you need to gain trust of your stakeholders. As Susan Solovic, an award-winning entrepreneur and keynote speaker once said, “people do business with people they know, like, and trust.”
The habit of asking might not be formed overnight. In fact for some, it could really be difficult. When you are discouraged to continue the principle of asking, remember that in order to make a difference, you have to constantly move out of your comfort zone. Nothing in life worth achieving is easy, but it is possible!
Call to action
Want more success tips? Connect with me at ElleKaplan.com!
If you have any comments or ideas on using this habit, please leave a comment or reach out to me!
Originally published at journal.thriveglobal.com