Learning the Hard Way or Asking for Help?
In this case it was a technical (programming) problem related to something that I know little about. As usual in this type of situation, you are faced with a dilemma. Do you ask someone who knows enough to be able to point you in the right direction, or do you just set out and try to research the answer on your own.
These days at least we do have Google to help us, and in many cases it has proved to be invaluable, but what happens when you just can't find the answers that you are looking for on the internet?
The problem that I was having difficulties with was indeed one of those where there were thousands of documents showing up in Google, but nothing that really answered my questions. Trouble was, there was also nobody that I could really ask, so Googling was my only option.
Personally, I like to ask how to do something from a person that knows, especially if I get horribly stuck and have come up against a brick wall. Once I know what I am doing, I thoroughly enjoy researching more about something, and it doesn't matter whether it's a programming issue, DIY task, cooking tip or whatever.
DIY is one area where I definitely like to know what I am doing. If I know enough, I will begin a task and figure out how best to complete it, at least to the best of my knowledge, but if I am really unsure, then rather than spend a lot of time and money and make a lot of mistakes, I prefer to get someone to help me. Once they have shown me how to do something, I am then in a position to do that myself the next time, but being a bit of a perfectionist, I loath doing something that doesn't turn out to be as good as I had hoped.
As for the task that I have been stuck on this week, I am sure you are wondering how I got on. Well, I am still stuck, still Googling, but I decided that maybe sitting back and taking a break might help me to pick up from where I left off and find the answer.
Do you know what I did on my break? You guessed it - I wrote an article about it - and here it is.
Published by Tony Payne
Tony Payne is a freelance writer who lives on the South Coast of England with his wife Debbie. He has worked in the IT Industry all his life, and has been writing on various sites for the last 10 years. T... View profile
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11 Comments
Post a CommentI always ask for help. It was something I learned early in life. I helped others often and then when i found I needed help, I would ask. Always worked.
Good article, Tony. Many people are afraid to ask for help - I'm surprised you didn't get more page views on the original article. I try to do a lot of research, but if I'm really stuck, I call my son on technical things.
It's often more intelligent to ASK someone than to make yourself crazy! Good teachers always tell their students that there are no dumb questions.
I agree it's often easier to ask.
I always try to do it myself and end up wasting too much time. Sometimes it's simpler to ask. :-)
This is something I need to learn to do, ask for help when I need it instead of waiting until I get a major crisis going on.
As long as my intuition tells me that I am going in the right direction, especially when driving or out walking and exploring, then I am happy to continue and find my own way, but there are times when you need to just bite the bullet and admit that you are lost. Never be afraid to ask.
First, I'm amazed to see a man admit asking for help! Kudos to you. Read my article on Perfectionism, you might change your view. Best luck with your problem.
Yes, always ask for help! Nice work...
Good thinking Mike, and yes I did, although in this case it did no good, since my problem was rather specific. Wikipedia is a great resource, and I do use it quite a lot.