Back in October of 2022, Nazia Ahmed – the CEO and Founder of SOULAB - had the amazing opportunity to deliver a TEDTalk at TEDx Canberra.
The theme was IMPACT. All speakers and acts sought to answer the following questions about impact:
What does it mean to 'create impact' and 'have impact'? What does 'good' impact for the future look like, and what guides it? How should we balance the ambition to create impact with other ingredients of a happy, meaningful life?
Nazia spoke about an interesting research finding of hers – asking for help, as a first step, is a central predictor of successful social outcomes.
She unraveled the reasons behind why people find it difficult to ask for help and shared her personal transformative story on when and how she herself started asking for help. Her talk also discussed what each of us can do to overcome the barriers preventing us being able to ask for help and the exponential power a network can have.
Some of the key takeaways from her talk were:
Why people don’t ask for help
1. Fear of vulnerability
2. Being in survival mode
3. Waiting for someone to offer help
How to ask for help
1. Be vulnerable
2. Frame the problem
3. List out your helpers
4. Reach out
5. Be ok with rejection
6. Help others
Watch her TedTalk to find out more about the power of asking for help and how you can leverage it in your personal, work, and community life.