Want to improve your life by asking? Many women feel awkward about asking, whether it be something small or big. However, learning to ask more often in all parts of your life will dramatically improve your life. Keep on reading to find out how to improve your life by asking.
Ask for help
As a sweeping generalisation, most women don’t ask for help enough. This can be help at home, at work, in business, with children, with finances and so much more. I’m not sure whether it is women wanting to feel like an independent woman, wanting to appear capable, not feeling comfortable asking for help or not feeling as if anyone is can meet their standards. Whatever the reason the fact is women don’t ask for help enough and this massively holds them back.
Take a moment now to think about what areas of your life it would be beneficial to ask for help with. Then think about who you could ask to help. Finally – ask!
When you ask for help you can improve your life in a number of ways. You might get great responses that enable you to save time or you might get the support you really need which helps reduce your stress.
Ask for a raise
For years researched showed the women asked for raises less than men. However, in 2018 Harvard Business Review published research that showed that women ask for a raise just as often as men, but are less likely to receive their raise. This means there are lots of women who pushed themselves to ask for a raise and then after having been refused and likely to feel that their efforts are pointless. I’m here to tell you to keep on going (and this is coming from a woman who was refused a raise numerous times). If you know in your heart that you deserve a raise, then don’t let a past experience or your nerves stop you from asking.
When you ask for a raise you no longer have to spend time ruminating about asking for a raise. You’ll have a response and then be able to make a choice about whether you are happy to continue working at your current salary or whether it is a sign that you need to move.
Ask for LinkedIn recommendations
If you are working in any capacity (employee, contractor, self-employed, freelancer, business owner or entrepreneur) then you should be asking for LinkedIn recommendations and the best time to ask is now. Too often women wait to improve their LinkedIn profile when they actively need it. This could be when they are looking for a new job or when starting a business. However, getting into the habit of regularly asking for LinkedIn recommendations when you don’t ‘need them’ will ensure they are there in case you need them in the future.
Ask a friend ‘What can I do to help you?’
If you are reading this then it is likely that you’ve struggled to ask for help in the past. Therefore, you know what it is like. So often are friends need our support but aren’t comfortable with asking. Make it easy for them to ask for what they need by saying ‘What can I do to help you?’. It might be that you can tell a friend is struggling and you ask the question, or you could ask it when you know you have the capacity to be able to support a friend further.
Ask for referrals
If you are running a business and not asking for referrals, then please make a commitment now to get into the habit of asking for referrals. So many business owners don’t ask for referrals as they feel awkward about it or think it will make them look desperate. The fact is if your client or customer is happy with what they received from your business then they won’t mind you asking for a referral. Obviously, they can say no, but very people are offended by being asked to refer someone. They know it is just what businesses do. So stop worrying and start asking.
Ask great questions
If you want to truly improve your life you need to ask better questions to get better answers. This can be questions that you ask yourself or questions that you love others.
The questions we ask directly inform the responses we receive, which is why it is important to ask great questions. A great example of this is by Ramit Sethi (a personal finance author and blogger). Ramit talks about how ‘most of us are obsessed with asking $3 questions when we really should be asking $30,000 dollar questions’. When you start to ask yourself $30,000 questions you will get answers that you’ll never get from asking $3 questions.
Asking great questions is important to improve your life, especially if you are trying to grow.
There you have it! You now know how to improve your life by asking.
I hope this has encouraged you to ask more often. It might feel weird at first but soon it will be natural, and you’ll be able to see the impact it has on your life.
In the comments, I would love to know what you have been inspired to ask.
