WOW #006: 3 Ways to Rethink Help

Quote of the Week:
"If I hadn't had mentors, I wouldn't be here today. I'm a product of great mentoring, great coaching...Coaches or mentors are very important. They could be anyone - your husband, other family members, or your boss."
- Indra Nooyi

Help is a fuzzy concept. Consider this for a second:

• Many people genuinely enjoy helping others.

• Lesser numbers of people are comfortable with asking for or receiving help.
• An even smaller group of people truly understand how help produces the best version of themselves.

The truly enlightened helpers are a) comfortable asking for and receiving help, and b) tuned into how to appropriately channel help to serve others in need.

Yes, it's complicated. Mostly because people view help in the same way they view bank accounts. Credit one, debit the other. 

Our reluctance to balance the scales of help in many ways comes down to this:

Vulnerability and Ego.

It’s human nature to not want to believe (or have others believe), that you require help. It’s also human nature to feel “more than” when you help others and subconsciously “punch down” at times when people need you.

When you toss time and money into the equation, things can really go off balance. 

The word help connotes urgent distress.
The word encourage seems to land better with people. Support. Advise. Mentor.
These words all get a warmer reception. 

Whichever word is being used, they all generally result in more favorable outcomes.

Your business is a dynamic entity. When things aren’t going well (or on the flipside, even when they are going well), it’s a lot for one person to manage effectively. It also makes a lot of sense to ask for ____ (help, support, coaching, etc.). 

In our 1:1 Coaching Sessions, we get the opportunity to meet with business owners and put theory into practice. Learning materials are great and always will be, but there's still no alternative to real-time feedback, workshopping, and advice for specific topics and challenges.

When you start conceptualizing help as a line that goes full circle vs vertical lines pointing up or down, you’ll start feeling much better about the help you receive as well as the help you provide.

3 Takeaways:

1. Discover Your Upper Limits. Sports often refer to it as leaving it all on the field. How would you characterize your performance with your One-Person Business? While it’s virtually impossible to maintain optimum levels at all times, good coaching is a nice assist. How many people currently (in or around your business) are telling you what you really need to hear or asking important questions that you may not be?
    
2. Positive Energy Transfer. Help fosters Connection (health related headlines are a dime a dozen), and usually cover topics like fitness, weight loss, nutrition, etc. There’s far less that goes into detail about the human connection - (which is what help, mentorship, coaching, and humanity are all about). Whether you are the coach or the player, help clarifies our purpose in many ways.
    
3. Greater efficiency and faster results. If you've read our materials, you'll hear us discuss time and money quite a bit. These are the true levers that steer and maneuver one-person Businesses around invisible pitfalls and towards higher altitudes. Great mentorship will cost you both time and money now, but will pay nice dividends later. 

Doing nothing now costs nothing…or could it ultimately cost you everything?

1 Action:

Schedule 2 short meetings this week. A call, a Zoom, coffee meet-up, what have you. Think of people in your network that you’ve helped in the past, as well as people that have helped you previously. Meet with someone that you can be a resource for, as well as someone whose counsel you might be seeking. Consider energy transfer, time, and mental state. 

These might be the best meetings you have all week.

See you next Wednesday,
Hubert