JohnOne of the quickest ways to learn or gain experience in anything is to ask someone for help. That person can be a mentor, a friend, or someone that specializes in a field you are interested in. However, more often than not, people have too much pride to ask for help or information. In my opinion, it is likely that they have a fear of feeling dumb, inferior, or rejection; which can be an uncomfortable position to be in. To overcome this situation, one must learn about humility.
According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of humility is ‘freedom from pride or arrogance’. The way I define it is the power to not give a shit what other people think (but that is a little inappropriate for some people). An example of having humility is my older cousin – let’s give him another name, John.
My older cousin John grew up in the generation where dropping out of school wasn’t a big issue, future plans weren’t really a thing, and hanging out with friends was the end goal. After years of following this paradigm, it still lead him to a good paying job – but it was not what he wanted to do. He came to the realization that there was more to life than the current position he was in. He wanted something more, and he decided he wanted to dive into the IT world.
This is where I came into the picture.
At a family gathering, we were talking about careers and he asked if I could help him out with some information about IT. I had no problem with sharing my knowledge as I love to help people where I can. No later than a few days, I get a text asking if he could shadow me – but I was working from home at the moment, so I decided to show him what I did at his house. While showing him some things, he mentioned he was a little embarrassed to ask me for help because of the gap in age.
Looking back at the situation, if he did not have the humility to ask for help, he’d be back at square one of ‘What is IT?’. Granted I didn’t teach him everything he needs to know nor did I get him a job. However, I did give him an inside look at ‘the real world’ that most people that are new to IT usually don’t see until they’re in it. He now has an advantage on others that are also getting into IT and did not ask for help.
That’s just a simple example of how to utilize others to get ahead in life. This can be applied to many other things; for me, it’s starting my own business.
So don’t fret and go ahead and ask questions. I’m betting it’ll get you to your destination faster.