I make no bones about being a self-starter. It’s just part of who I am. I’m also somebody who searches for solutions to my own problems. Unfortunately, I’m not really good about asking for help. When I’ve got something that needs to be fixed, I try to do it on my own. I may do a search of the internet and read articles or watch videos…but I suck at asking for help. Even when I know people who have the right skillset and who would be happy to help, I don’t ask.

Honestly, that’s a flaw in my character. I think I can do everything on my own.

More often than not, I’m wrong. Things take too long. Repairs are only partially completed. In the long run, I’m in more trouble afterwards because I didn’t do a complete job. One that would have been easy and quick if I would asked for help.

When I saw the quote from Pablo Picasso I realized that I need to become a great artist at life. Not only should I be copying what other people are doing…I need to steal their ideas. I need to incorporate things into my life in their entirety. I’ve previously written about taking my own advice. This takes things a step further. Not only do I need to gather ideas from other folks and throw them into the cauldron of my brain. I need to take their entire ideas or solutions and use them wholesale.

And I need to begin asking for help when appropriate. No more being the Lone Ranger. When I run into a problem, I need to ask for help. And I need to do it right away…not after weeks of trying one half-baked solution after another. I’ve wasted too much time trying to reinvent the wheel, when I’ve got great wheel-makers available to me in almost every part of my life.

So I’m going to be taking some advice from a painter I don’t really like all that much. I’m not just going to search for solutions on my own and copy them. I’m going to either steal entire solutions or I’m going to ask for help.

How about you?