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Attacking Goals: Make an Effort to Ask for Help

by Jacob Abshire on January 28, 2015

You need others when you battle goals.

We’ve taken our first steps in battle and began our reviews. The next thing we want to do is ask for help when we need it.

Moment of honesty: asking for help is a big challenge for me. I’ve found it to be equally difficult for others, as well. I think it’s a blow to our pride. No, I know it is. This is why it’s so challenging.

When I say we need to attack goals by making an effort to ask for help, I don’t mean we need to flippantly blurt out requests to everyone we know. You need to own your goals and not cast them on others. Rather, carefully share your goals and chunks with people you trust.

Asking for help really needs no more explanation when it comes to how you ask. Instead, I’d like to share some benefits so you’ll be more motivated to let your pride down and get to asking.

Asking Others Can Help You Clarify Goals

Getting caught up in the attack can sometimes cause us to lose focus on the goal. The details can be distracting. I’ve even caught myself thinking the chunks were the goals, not the small tasks leading to the big goal. Asking others requires you to articulate and explain your goal, which brings more clarity of what it is.

Asking Others Can Help You Gain Wisdom

This should go without saying. Reaching out to other people usually leads to gaining new perspectives. You’ll likely find yourself taking the long way to your goal when you’re working so hard on the chunks. Another person can help you get on a better track to success.

Asking Others Can Help You Find Delegates

Believe it or not, there are other people who can do some of the chunks you’ve scheduled for yourself. In fact, they might be able to do some of them better than you. Asking others allows them to get involved in helping you reach your goals. You can delegate tasks to more effective people.

Asking Others Can Help You Create Accountability

When you involve other people, they are connected to your goal in some way. This is different for different people. But, everyone who knows what you’re doing suddenly becomes an accountability partner for you, even if they don’t intend it. Next time you see them, they might ask about your progress. If they don’t, you might expect it. Either way, they’re holding you accountable—either directly or indirectly.

Asking Others Can Help You Find Encouragement

In addition to accountability, you’ll find that some people will actually pray for your success. If so, they will likely be emotionally connected to you reaching your goal and find value in your effort. Then, it’s advantageous for them to encourage you along the way. They’re the people in the stands urging you to finish the race.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at attacking goals by making a punch list. I really like these.

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