Asking for Help is a Good Thing
Why do we often perceive asking for help or accepting offers of help as a sign of weakness, especially for business leaders? There’s a negative connotation to not being able to “go it alone” although there are countless examples that go against this natural tendency. Anyone who is a sports fan understands that athletes need coaches to win championships. A great athlete could make it far on their own, but without the constant motivation and outside perspective from their coach to keep them focused and moving forward they could plateau and not grow. So, why should business coaches be anything different? All great leaders have a trusted advisor, or two, who give them honest feedback to help them keep their eye on their goals. We don’t always hear about these people, but they are there – quietly being who they are, typically out of the limelight. Pretending to not need help as you grow professionally in your business venture is just prolonging the inevitable. At some point, you’re going to realize the ROI of a business coach. They will provide you with tools that will keep you on pace and stay focused without having your business consume your life. We all need balance in our life and a business a coach can help you gain back control.
The key is to let go of all the “shoulds” that drive so much of the stress and anxiety that overwhelms you. That you “should” know how to lead a team, that because you own or run a business that means you “should” know how to design and create the right systems to scale and grow with your business (as if that has anything to do with your true passion of your business), or that you “should” already have a vision that’s based on your values and have a strategic plan. And not to mention, that you should do all this and achieve some magical thing called “work/life” balance, as if you’re some superhuman instead of a passionate entrepreneur who is overwhelmed with the complexity of running a business in today’s world.
Eventually the madness must stop. Either it stops you or you’ll hit the brakes. You’ll have some sort of crisis or realization that enough is enough and you need help. It all comes down to a choice. You can choose to accept the reality that no one will come to your rescue and you’ll have to hunker down and power through the chaos. Or you can accept this choice as liberation, to serve yourself and your business by getting the help you need. We all experience this at some point in our life and we’ve seen this storyline portrayed by Hollywood all the time. When someone gives it their all and then opens up and admits that they need help, we recognize the strength it took to make that choice. That choice is courage and it’s inspiring. It doesn’t lower our perception of that person, it raises it.
Are you strong enough to stop going it alone? The business world is filled with people who are desperate to convince the world that everything is always great and to always have positive viewpoints. But what causes great business leaders are people who are more interested in the reality than what people think. And there is no shame in that. So, go ahead, ask for help.