Deep Thoughts: A Cry For Help

I do sincerely apologize for my failure to write last week. As such, I have cooked up a wonderful story to make up for it. Read on and enjoy.

Once upon a time in the city of Workville, there lived a damsel who got bound in chains having fallen into the trap of the taskmaster of the city. She had seven days to free herself or death awaited. Helpless she felt totally alone, all that looked on her took their eyes away. She opened her mouth to call out, but their eyes stayed her. Maybe it was pride or maybe it was a lack of confidence. Three days flew past so fast she thought maybe the time fairies wanted her dead badly.

Wallowing in her woe, she wondered, if really there was no one who saw her plight and could help her. Was there no one? Then she cried out “Help!!! Somebody! Anybody!” It became so deadly still that she felt the cry was only deep within her heart. Then she heard a sound, ‘thud… thud… thud’ Was that the beating of her? Louder and louder she heard it until she saw a horse flying towards her. She couldn’t move, bound by her chains, death was closer than she had really thought and it was going to be horribly crushed by the hoofs of a horse. She closed her eyes, breathing her last and waited.

A few seconds passed by and then she peeked from beneath her lashes and her eyes flew open wide. A knight. But where was his armour? Still puzzled she heard him speak. ‘I am Prince Charming and I am here to save you’ What! She was livid, the angels sent a prince in lieu of a knight, were they trying to torture her before the inevitable? What could a prince do, charm the chains away? Her thoughts were barely complete before she saw the prince kneel before her, assessing the chains with hands so gentle they definitely belonged with a prince. She watched silently as he used not a brute strength but his mind to work at the chains pausing once in a while to give her a reassuring smile. Their eyes met just as the chains fell away and she knew that her cry had been heard by not just any knight but one so princely charming… And they lived happily

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Yes, you guessed right, that was me, the damsel, and prince charming? I am not going to tell anything about him because that is not the focus of this write-up. In these past seven days, I realized that there is need to cry out for help when faced with daunting tasks, especially while working in an organisation. Trying to do things all by yourself may not be effective especially if the task at hand is beyond your capability and we know that giving up should not be in the picture as it lowers opportunity for growth. So the question is when and why should one ask for help?

Asking for help should be the easiest thing right? However, it is not. It could be so difficult as we may assume that by doing so, we either lose control or put ourselves out there as weak and vulnerable. Who doesn’t want to be seen as confident, independent, strong and on top of their game? But there are times when asking for help shows great strength and I have summarized them in three scenarios below.

The first is when one is not clear on the details of any project they are working on. Most times I think I look stupid when I ask for help in this kind of scenario but over time, I have discovered that, it is always worth it to reach out to someone and be completely sure of what you are to do.

Second scenario; when figuring out something would take too much time. There are aspects of my work that I am expected to figure out myself, but there are others that get thrown at me in which I have no prior knowledge or skill to deal with it. I know well enough that if I researched, I might learn what I need to get the work done, however, doesn’t it make much more sense to seek aid from someone I know could get the job done faster? I may be able to pick the person’s brain and get to learn practically. Imagine the time it will take to learn a new skill and the mistakes that would definitely be made along the way before the work gets done. Tick! Tock! says the clock, it waits for no one.

Thirdly; when totally clueless, i.e., knowing nothing, zilch, zero, about what to do. There is nothing worse than wasting forever jumbling through something you have no inkling about, completing it only to discover you have done OP (off point). It is even worse than confessing your weakness. Thus, I have discovered that sometimes admitting that you have no idea about something, make people willing to help you. Just tell someone, I really suck at this, please could you help me? Try it, it works all the time.

From the fairy tale above you can infer that I was given a difficult task last week that I knew try as I might, I would not be able to do and there was no way I was going to tell my boss that I couldn’t do it. Instead of being helpless, wasting time or doing OP, I dumped all my pride and cried for help. Sure enough, I got one and in the process discovered new things. So I have learned that the best thing is to ask for help because by doing so, you have a chance to build up your competency and do things beyond anyone’s expectations.

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Let’s do this again next week.

Jaa mata!