ASK FOR HELP, YOU IDIOT

or How To Stop Wasting Time and Start Getting Things Done

I am an idiot in a metal tube.

I am frequently wilfully ignorant of my own limitations and therefore I am stupid as well.

We all are at times. Yes, even you.

I hate asking for help.

It makes me feel like I’ve failed before I’ve began. I could tell you that I just don’t want to bother anyone or make them feel pressured or, worse, obligated. However the truth is, asking for help robs me of those moments where I’ve done something entirely on my own and I get to be the sole basker in the glory.

To be clear though…
Not asking for help is selfish.

Not asking for help can turn your minor obstacles on the horizon into everyone’s five-alarm fires on your doorstep.

Of course, not everything is life or death and sometimes it’s just smart to ask for help.

I realized this yesterday when I was filming a video.

I do A LOT of filming entirely on my own. I often get asked how big my crew is and I proudly reply that it is I who carries all the weight and isn’t that impressive. To be fair to me, I’ve done quite well being on-screen, running camera, audio, lights, doing the editing, post-production, publishing and marketing. It is a lot.

But sometimes I have to stubbornly admit that I need help.

I’ve filmed a video for ChristmasWishTree.com. It’s a site that I own that is now in its third year. It lists the Amazon Wish Lists of women’s shelters around the world. Including stuff for the moms and more importantly stuff for the kids who will be spending the holidays in a shelter.

I wanted to do something silly to help promote it. Something sentimental. Something SUPER Christmassy…

So I chose the ventilation duct scene from Die Hard.

It turns out you can’t buy a piece of ductwork big enough to fit a man at your local hardware store. So I couldn’t easily sort that part of the video by myself. I’d need some help.

I contacted Culliton’s here in Stratford, a commercial and industrial HVAC company. They found me a 28” diameter, 10 foot long piece of duct that they were happy to give to me for the video. They even cut it down to 4 feet long so it would fit in our car. How great is that?

Then I started planning how I would recreate the scene. Even at only 4 feet long, the duct was massive. So, it would have to be on the floor. With me in it.

As I lay there in the metallic tube I thought of ways I could do it all by myself. That meant initiate the camera, audio, teleprompter, lights and make sure the framing was good.

Hmmm…

Okay, I wasn’t going to be able to do this by myself. I was going to need help.

Luckily, I have Shannon here and she’s always happy to help. Even though I hate asking her for help because I’m, I feel, horrible to work with thanks to me struggling to articulate what needs to be done.

Shannon ran audio and camera and made sure I was in frame. I stumbled through my lines a number of times and finally got a good take.

I couldn’t have completed the video without asking for help.
Well, maybe I could have but my neck and back would be even sorer from being in that duct. Resulting in bad mood me and possibly the foregoing of other plans and things that needed to be done.

This, obviously, is a largely inconsequential example of when asking for help paid off…
but asking for help almost always pays off in any situation.

Asking for help with little problems helps avoid begging for help with bigger ones.

Asking for help is smart.
It gets things done and makes things better for everyone.
Nobody can do it all by themselves.
Physical health. Mental health. Money. Anything.
Never be embarrassed to ask for help.

Everybody needs it.

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(Pictured: Author flicks his Bic in joy at having the wherewithal to ask for help)