It's okay to ask for help.

[00:00:00] You are listening to the Daily Five, an experimental podcast by Aurooba, where I talk about something for five minutes. So let's get to it, shall we? Learning as an adult is very different from when you are a child or a teenager – more specifically, learning in a professional environment is very different from learning on your own time.

[00:00:32] When you're a child or a teenager, –when you're in school or learning on your own time, it is comparatively low stakes. You know? It is less public as well. And the thing about learning is when you learn, you will have missteps, you will trip, you will fall, whatever you might be learning. And [00:01:00] when we have to learn in public or in a professional space, that can be tough, right?

[00:01:07] It is very tough on our pride, on our self-esteem to have to fail or trip up in public. And yet, you know, we have to do it because, if you are gonna grow and learn new things and get better and improve, you inevitably need to make mistakes and trip up because that's how you grow. I've been thinking about this a lot and one of the things that I think happens in a professional space – because I recently fell into this trap myself – is:

[00:01:48] because you let your pride sometimes get in the way, you don't ask questions and you don't ask for help when you should. I see it all the time around me and you know, I'm [00:02:00] not immune. I literally just did it myself in the last few weeks. Why do we do that? Because we don't want to appear weak, don't wanna appear less knowledgeable.

[00:02:14] We don't wanna appear less capable, and so we don't ask for help and we don't ask the right questions that could have helped move us forward much easier by, you know, leaning on someone who knows more than you in a particular subject. When we do that, when we fail to identify the right time to ask for help and ask questions,

[00:02:39] we not only do a disservice to ourselves, we do a disservice to our teammates. We demonstrate a lack of trust in them, right? By not asking them for help. We demonstrate a lack of ability to work in a team. In a team, you ask each other for [00:03:00] help in a team, you lean on each other. Now, as someone who has worked fairly alone for nearly a decade,

[00:03:09] this is something I'm still figuring out. This is still something I'm learning and you know, pride is this big, you know, big thing that can get in the way, especially if you are not used to having to ask for help, especially if you are the one people ask for help instead. So when it's time for you to ask for help, that can be a difficult thing to.

[00:03:35] but it is important and it's important to admit when you've made a mistake, and it's important to then learn from it and ensure you don't make it again. So that's kind of what's been on my mind today, because recently in my own professional life, I made the mistake of not asking questions. Or at least enough questions at the right time.

[00:03:59] And I [00:04:00] found myself in a place where I was unhappy with the work that I had created, but it was entirely my own fault. It was entirely my own fault because I did not ask enough questions. I did not ask for help when I should have. And you know, that is unfortunate. It is an unfortunate place to be in, but my attitude here is, one, I can turn it into a podcast episode, and two, I can learn from it and make sure that I don't let my pride get in the way in the future, right?

[00:04:34] Because that is how you grow. So that's what I'm thinking about a little bit today.

[00:04:45] Thanks for listening. Talk to you tomorrow.