People often ask me for advice on how to be successful at work. Some may assume I’ve had things easy in my life and in my career, and that’s what has led to my success. I want to be very clear: I have not had things easy. My challenges have served me well, though, because overcoming them has helped me to be successful at work and in life.

Growing up as one of four kids with a single mom often left me feeling “less than” other kids who had much more than I did. My mother worked really hard at multiple jobs just to keep food on the table, but even as a child I was able to see clearly that some people were successful, while others were not. I watched others and I tried to determine what I needed to do to succeed.

As an adult, I made sure that I would not struggle financially the way my mother had. I decided to outwork everyone and put myself on the fast track for success—in all aspects of my life.

I’ve hand-picked my top 10 easy tips for helping you outshine others and set yourself apart for this blog series, How To Succeed in Business and Life. With each tip, I’ll address in detail how to become more successful in all that you do.

Tip 9: Ask for Help

Starting out in business, I did not want to ask anyone for help because I thought I would appear weak. Unfortunately, it took me years to figure out that I need to ask for help. No one is expected to know how to do everything and frankly, the most confident leaders are collaborative in nature. They’re looking for multiple people to jump in on projects and work together! There is no need to go it alone—in work or in life. 

We are all better when we have other perspectives and ideas to bounce against our own. My best presentations occur after I show my team what I’m thinking and then they make changes. When you start asking for help, you see that you are truly becoming strong and that others will enjoy that you are leaning on them. It always blows me away that there are so many great people that want to help me and feel good about doing it. I never saw it when I was younger because I never asked. Asking for help has helped me be successful every step of the way.

Don’t wait. Ask for help today.