Twitter: I am terrible at asking for help! I never think to do it. And when I do, I dismiss it, thinking “ah, it’s so much overhead to involve others that it’s easier to just handle myself.” But I’m sure I’m not asking nearly enough.
Help me! What strategies do you have here?
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(Very helpful replies—thank you!)
One barrier for me is worrying about downside. Asking for help sometimes does end in morass—more noise than signal, more effort than going solo, excess social overhead. Any advice on choosing whom to ask or on crafting a request to avoid morass?
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I've learned to just ignore the morass.
When I ask a question on Twitter, the first replies are often unhelpful, missing the point, not what I asked, etc. But if I just ignore them and wait, I often get a helpful reply later! I evaluate this by max(all replies), not avg()
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Agreed—this is a helpful perspective! What about 1:1 asking-for-help, e.g. when you realize you need help with a Progress Studies project and reach out to someone?
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Kinda similar: if they reply and it's unhelpful, just say thanks and ignore / move on. What have you lost?
In this context the awkwardness to get over is realizing that you don't have to take people's advice or suggestions—even if you specifically requested them.
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