Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You’re only a stranger once.

February 27, 2007

Change the World: Don’t Hesitate to Ask or Offer

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 11:35 am

The Power of Offering

Change the World!

We are all aggregators of what we bring into the world and what we experience once we get here. Some context:

I’m the only girl and the baby of the family. I have an older, older brother and a younger, older brother. They were 8 and 9 years old when I was a baby. . . . Yeah, I’m fiercely independent.

Besides that I’m second-generation American. My grandparents were all born in another country. . . . All around me, as I grew up, were messages that said, “Hard work never hurt anybody.”

I was shy and perceptive. . . . My social skills were a cross between a monkey and a Weimaraner puppy — intrusive, cute, and clumsy.

When I went to college, I was the only one who had carried my suitcase. That was the way the world worked. That world had worked pretty well for me.

That explains a lot; doesn’t it?

This morning a man I just met, Fred Zelders, reminded me of all of that with one sentence in his comment..

P.S. Don’t hesitate to ask for help.

Wow! Hit my head. What the heck had I been thinking? I love to help people. Why shouldn’t they get a turn too?

What Fred sent me when we talked minutes later was simpler and more elegant than what I had been planning.

That simple offer — one sentence — changed my world. It saved me hours and gave me something so much better. AND Fred is no longer a stranger.

One sentence.

Thank you, Fred Zelders, for offering. Thank you for your generosity.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
______________
If you’re ready to change the world, send me your thoughts in a guest post. Feel free to take the gorgeous Change the World image up there that Sandy designed back to your blog. Or help yourself to this one.

Change the World!.

Email me about what you’re doing or what we might do. Let’s change the world one bit at a time together. Together it can’t take forever.


Filed under Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog |



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19 Comments to “Change the World: Don’t Hesitate to Ask or Offer”

  1. February 27th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
    Kian Ann said

    Liz,

    For myself, I was brought up in a “typical Asian” culture, where asking questions implicitly means “You are stupid and don’t know your stuff”… however, as I grew up, I too, learnt that asking the right questions are the key to get you where you want to be.

    Now, I believe in “Ask, and you will be given!”, “Give, and you will receive”

    :)

  2. February 27th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Kian Ann,
    Yes, I understand what you are saying. In my case it was more that I never think to ask. There was no one around before . . . :)

    I so believe in the Power WE. Sometimes I’m just slow on the uptake. :)

  3. February 27th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
    Marti said

    Hello dear. I’ve missed you! I can’t seem to get in to Open Mic…am I doing something wrong?

  4. February 28th, 2007 at 4:09 am
    Meikah Delid said

    Hi, Liz, I’m also an only girl being that we’re only two siblings, and I have a brother. :) I think generally only girls grow up to be shy. But we get confidence from our families and friends who always assure us that we can depend on them for anything. Like you, I also like helping people. I’ve done so endless times already. I shared this story in my post today, as I am touched by it. :) Keep inspiring more people!

  5. February 28th, 2007 at 4:11 am
    Custserv » Customer Service News Round-Up - The New Competitive Edge said

    [...] Liz Strauss of Successful & Outstanding Blog(gers) has a story that I really like: the Power of Offering, which could change the world. I agree! If we tell a person that we’re here to help him or her anytime, and he just needs to ask, invites good camaraderie. This camaraderie will spread and touch even the hardest heart. Remember there’s a saying that goes, “no man is an island.” Therefore there are things that we cannot do by ourselves. We would always need some other person. In turn that person also needs us. Life is a give and take. The same is true with customer service. We don’t read minds, so it’s better that we tell the other person what we need, how our steak should be done, or where we want to go. [...]

  6. February 28th, 2007 at 5:08 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Meikah Delid!
    Thank you for taking the story home.

    One of the things I so like about blogging is moments like this, when I find that a friend and I have something like this in common that we didn’t know a few minutes ago. It’s more than an event, and more than the way we were brought up. It’s a common way of seeing the world.

    How much more can you feel that you’re not alone on the planet than to know a moment like that with another person?

    Thank for giving me this to wake up to this morning. :)

  7. February 28th, 2007 at 6:18 am
    Karin said

    “Ask, and you will be given!”, “Give, and you will receive”

    Strange world, not? Last week we were talking about giving and how ‘easy’ that is.

    Think we all forgot to mention the other side of the coin, how wonderful it can be to be asked to give something (if only a ‘hand’ ;-))

  8. February 28th, 2007 at 6:21 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Karin!
    What a gift it is to see you every morning!

    It is a strange world, and I think it’s our species that makes it so. :)

    Learning to ask in sometimes my problems because I so cherish my independence — to a point where it works against my best efforts, as this story shows. :)

  9. February 28th, 2007 at 6:30 am
    Karin said

    And greetings to you too!

    Know where you’re coming from Liz - only girl in between two brothers (eldest was the shortest, youngest was the biggest, always brought confusion about, but that’s a different story all together ;-))

    Guess whom I’m going to mention next who taught me about asking without loosing ones independency?

  10. February 28th, 2007 at 6:33 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Karin,
    That last sentence brought an out-loud reaponse of surprise and laughter. Hmmmmmm.

    Could you possibly be speaking of your now world-reknown, most-esteemed, ever-wise-and-kind mentor?

  11. February 28th, 2007 at 6:45 am
    Karin said

    Nah, of course not ;-)

    (great, having a lunch meeting tomorrow with him, oh boy, do I have a lot of explaining to do when he finds out he’s world reknown now!)

    Kidding besides, Richard did ‘educate’ me in asking for help. Asking when it was needed, not because it’s the easy way out (well, for some it is, but those people I don’t consider being independent anyway).
    The time of ‘need’ differs per situation of course, but no one gets more independent by not being able to solve a real problem, others are standing by to give (here we go again) that helping hand; they are eager to help, they almost beg you to ask for it (but becuase they respect your independency they wait - impatiently - to be asked).

  12. February 28th, 2007 at 6:49 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Karin,
    Others are standing by, right there, and we don’t see them. Every time we get off course it’s because we’re looking in the wrong direction. :)

    (I’ll keep it a secret that he’s world reknown. You might have to do something about Mike, though.)

  13. February 28th, 2007 at 7:36 am
    Karin said

    chuckle
    (Anyone has an smiley icon for that one yet? Love the word - thanks Dawud)

  14. February 28th, 2007 at 7:43 am
    ME Strauss said

    Okay, What am I missing here? I’m clueless again, and, in the usual blogger synchronicity, I was just typing that word clueless on my writing blog when your comment came. :)

    If only I had a mentor . . .

  15. February 28th, 2007 at 8:12 am
    Karin said

    Sorry, sorry…

    Rephrase: does anyone know of an inon (smiley type) that represents the word:
    chuckle
    (because LoL is not enough in this instance)
    ;-)

  16. February 28th, 2007 at 8:15 am
    ME Strauss said

    As my friend, Nancy sayd, “Liz, sometimes you are so fast . . . and sometimes you are so slo0000w.”

    Maybe I should have you for my mentor and he be my grandmentor. :)

  17. February 28th, 2007 at 8:21 am
    Karin said

    imagine font 20
    LOL

  18. February 28th, 2007 at 8:22 am
    ME Strauss said

    :)

  19. September 28th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
    The Risks and Rewards of Making Big Business Changes - eMoms at Home - The Internet Home Business Blog for Moms & Dads said

    [...] have to get outside of your comfort zone, rely on the advice and support of others,  you’ll have to stay focused when all you want is a break, and you’ll have to risk a [...]

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