The Four-Letter Word That Can Get You Almost Anything

By Carlon Haas | August 8, 2007

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Most successes in life I can attribute to one word. It’s a simple word. But it’s a word most of us loathe to use. It’s a word that I absolutely could not stand to utter.

You see, I consider myself to be a smart person. And I thought for a smart person to utter this word, it would be tantamount to admitting defeat. Or giving up. Or being less of a person.

But once I actually said it, I could not argue with the results. And, in fact, I consider much of my good fortune to be attributable to this word.

And that word is…

…help.

Many times in my life, I did not want to ask for help. And why not? I knew that with the exception of very specialized knowledge, I could figure most things out if I read a book about it.

But I cannot count the number of times I lingered around not really getting anything done. There were always people willing to show me what I needed to do (without wanting $10,000 for some “mentoring program” I might add). But I never wanted to ask for their help.

But all that changed after meeting some people who profoundly changed my life. These people opened my mind to different possibilities and opened the doors to worlds I never thought existed.

And they did that all because I asked them.

It took me years to start doing this. But why didn’t I start doing it sooner. I’ll be blunt: it was PRIDE. It was my stupid arrogant PRIDE that I can everything by myself and I don’t need anyone. Why would the great Carlon Haas need anyone’s help? He’s too smart for that.

But the truth is I DON’T know everything. Not even close. And I think finally admitting that to myself, paved the way for exponential personal growth.

It led me to take up the violin at age 30 and stick with it. Most adult beginners quit violin after 6 months once they see how difficult it is and what a steep learning curve it has. But I know how little I really know about music and that has helped me to gain prospective about my goals and ambitions for the violin.

Asking for help has also made me see other talents that I didn’t know I had, including the ability to speak in public, basic interior design skills, and (shockingly enough) a hint of fashion sense. This last one is coming from the guy who thought dressing in all black was timelessly cool!

Sometimes you just need others to bounce your ideas off of. And when you find people who will really help you (and not just say “yes” to placate you), you will discover a treasure trove of abilities you never knew you had.

Don’t let pride get in the way of that. Don’t wait until you’ve almost lost everything to let that pride down. Do it before you get to that point. You’ll see the results almost immediately.