Who doesn't like asking for help when stuck in a situation? Not everyone actually likes asking for help and that can both be a good thing as well as a bad thing, it all depends on the type of situation and the effort the person has put into getting themselves out of it.
A lot of people will usually say you should ask for help when you're not able to solve a problem but I believe a person shouldn't immediately seek help as soon as they come across a problem but they should try to solve it on their own first and when they can't do it, then they can seek for help from others.
Now this doesn't apply to life and death situations, we should seek help immediately if it's something that concerns life and death. But the area I am more focused on is when it comes to acquiring knowledge, especially if we are trying to learn something new.
Right from when I was a kid, I have always been a person that doesn't like asking questions in class and it's not because I was shy (I love answering questions a lot back then, but I can't say the same for now 😆) but it's because I understand most of the things that were taught in class and I also believed I can figure out the answers to my questions on my own.
In senior high school, maths was a lot tougher subject than what I was used to before and sometimes I don't fully understand some topics, what I usually do is to go back home and try to figure out the problem on my own. I remember a particular topic back then called word problems, it usually involves giving out a math problem in English form and it requires the use of logic before you can solve it.
It's something like: John is two times older than his sister who is five years old, how old is John? This one is the simplest form, it gets more complicated as you go further. When the teacher started the topic, it was very simple like the example I gave but as he went further, it became more complicated and I was totally lost.
A lot of my classmates were lost as well and the teacher tried his best to explain better but most of us weren't just getting it. I went back home that day and started solving some of the questions in the textbook. I started with the examples the teacher gave in class and then I went on to do the exercises in the textbook.
It was tough but I kept going, determined to figure it out. I spent hours moving from one exercise to the other, luckily the answers to the exercises were at the back of the book so I can check if I am right or not. At the end of the day, I was able to complete all the word problem exercises in the textbook and I was hungry for more!
I became very good at the topic that I can even close my eyes to solve any exercise I came across (hypothetically speaking 😆). There is a certain joy and euphoria feeling that overwhelmed me anytime I solved a very difficult exercise that looked impossible, I will jump up like a mad scientist that got his evil project working 😂
I became more confident in that topic and also helped out my classmates who were having difficulties in figuring it out. It has been over 10 years but I still remember that topic very well and the knowledge I gained has remained with me.
And that is the good thing when it comes to figuring out the problem on your own, it will be very difficult to forget when you finally figure it out and there's also that deep feeling of satisfaction when you do. But does it mean you shouldn't ask for help when you can't figure it out? Of course not, now let me give you another example.
I was very bad in physics back in high school (still am 😆) but the top student in my class who is also my very good friend was the best in physics in the whole school and because of him, I started putting more interest in it. I tried the same trick I usually use for other subjects in physics but it backfired most of the time, I couldn't figure out the problems.
But what did I do? After trying to figure out the problem and I can't, I ask my friend for help and after a few explanations, I will finally get it. I know when to ask for help and picking it up from my friend was a lot easier because I already tried to solve it on my own, so what I need was a few pointers and then I got it.
Compared to someone who didn't even bother to try and solve the problem, it will be a lot harder for someone else to explain to them and they will easily forget it after a while. Figuring it out on your own makes you a better learner but you must know when to ask for help.
Some people are too proud and won't be humble enough to ask for help, they will rather abandon the task and wallow in ignorance than bring themselves down and ask someone good at it for help, most of the time it's due to jealousy and envy.
I also took that mentality of solving things on my own when I started learning programming and it helped me a lot on my journey. A lot of senior programmers who I have come across have always said that the first thing you do when you come across a difficult problem is to try as much as possible to solve it on your own.
You should reference learning materials and blogs to try and get answers to the problem and when you have exhausted all resources and still can't figure solve the problem, then you should ask for help. There's a website for programmers (StackOverflow) where you can ask questions and you will certainly get answers, but they recommend you try solving it on your own first because it will make you better.
Everyone should also apply this to whatever they are learning, asking for help is a shortcut and will get you the answer faster but at the expense of forgetting it easily. I have always not been a fan of shortcuts and will rather take the long and difficult road if it means it will make me a better and more skilled person in that field.
Thanks for reading 💖💖💖
Thursday February 10, 2022
I wish more people will read this post and apply the wisdom in it cos people can be by themselves at times