Successful individuals work hard but you’d never know it. When you see them they always appear calm and relaxed – in control. You never see them panic, rushing or in a hurry. To do this you have to be good at what you do. To be good at what you do you will have to step up your game, study, learn, gain experience, and cram until you are. Never ask for help; advice, guidance an opinion perhaps, but not help. Belly up to the bar and to quote, Larry the Cable guy, “Git er done”
My wife, Dorothy, is wrapping up nearly ten years of university study in pursuit of a PhD in counseling psychology. She has maintained a near perfect GPA through to the end. Her fellow students, friends and family would often indicate how she made it “look so easy”. Let me tell you, from behind the scenes, it was anything but easy. I’ve learned to sleep with the lights on as she would study, read, research, write and read and research some more into the wee hours of the morning. . But when she left the house – she had it together. She’d be one of the first students in the classroom. While others would scramble through the door at the last minute, surprised there was a test or a paper due, Dorothy was chattin’ it up with the professor and others who . . . made it look easy.
When she started working at a local State Hospital and Veteran’s Hospital as part of her practicum, she’d close her office work late to learn the local procedures, study charts. Then she would come home to read, research and write some more, so when she was counseling a patient, she could . . . make it look easy
Deion Sanders, an extraordinarily gifted athlete knew how to make it look easy. While his teammates where taking off or sleeping before morning practice, Mr Sanders was working out – then he would show up at the field with everyone else. Chances are the person you see who makes it look easy – there’s a reason. What are you doing to prepare yourself to making it look easy?
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Be sure to check out the other “Success Rules” below:
Love this -my favorite boss did this. He was super busy, managed over 80 people – but always looked relaxed and confident in the situation
I think this relates to Rule #2 “Enjoy what you do” Almost all the successful people I know make it look easy because they work so hard but for them it is not work, it is what they love to do. Most people think this only applies to athletes, artists musicians etc because they do not understand how some people actually have a passion for accounting, bookkeeping, budget analysis (my passion) or conducting personnel evaluations (ok this one excapes me as well but…). On one the “Apprentice” shows, Donald Trump made the comment “Find something you love and you will never work a day in your life.” He could have added that you will also make success look easy.
I have to take issue with “Never ask for help” I’ve learned so much from others. IMO – there is a difference between asking for help every so often and “depending on help”
When asking for help *learn* – remember and learn. My job has nothing to do with servers or SAN systems. However by asking for help (once) and then doing it the SAN admins trusted me to do part of their job. Sounds like too much work? Later they say “We take care of the SAN network. No exceptions – well except for Allen. We trust him”
Yes this falls under #3 – volunteer for more work. It started with asking for help and then learning more in order to do more.
Remember Chicken Little? Don’t be Chicken Little. Nobody will take you seriously ever again.
But, smart leaders know what they don’t know and surround themselves with people who do, which is another way of asking for help. Sometimes you have to ask out loud, to gain buy-in and cooperation. But when you do, be sincere or it will show and you’ll have just instantly discredited yourself.
What a great aray of feedback and clarity of this rules. Lenni really hits the nail on the head about what this rule is about. It’s not so much about not asking for help perse but really more about being prepared. Certianly as Allen indicates it is vital we take time to learn, we ask questions, seek input. They do their homework. Sonya takes it a step further, and clarifies that extraordinary leaders don’t need to know everything, but great leaders know how to involve, engage and empower their followers.
ask your bae for pyschological examining.