LATE BLOOMERS ASK FOR HELP…

As has been laid out in the past couple of articles, the Late Bloomer usually needs help from outside sources to stay motivated. He has a friend who acts as a motivator, and he has been talking about his task trying to find others who, themselves, are interested in that task. But I cannot deny that sometimes motivation is not all that is needed to complete a task. Sometimes more knowledge is needed. Sometimes skills are required that have not yet been acquired. The bigger the task, the more potential there is for further knowledge and skills. Therefore the Late Bloomer should not limit himself to his motivator and the insights gained from others alone. They may not possess the proper knowledge and skills needed. (Remember, your motivator is simply being a friend who will help you stay focused.) He must ask for help from outside of these sources. Let me describe a few of them.

This is the age of electronic data. There are millions (or more likely, billions and quite possibly trillions) of pages of data on the internet just waiting for someone to read them.

Is your task something a little more difficult than finishing a book as was the example used in previous posts? Perhaps it’s something that requires a bit of skill and extra knowledge (like replacing a deck or painting a room…ok…those are a bit large for the Late Bloomer to start with. Let’s try something simple like replacing an air filter on a car.) This is a topic close to my heart because just this morning I paid someone else to change the air filter on my own car. And judging by how quickly it was done, I am left to conclude that this is an extremely easy thing to do. So I will take a few minutes to find out if someone has posted this useful data on the internet. I’ll be right back…
Ok…I was online for about 20 seconds and I found this: http://www.ehow.com/how_112770_replace-air-filter.html
It came with instructions and a graphic. You gotta love the internet.

Are you not internet savvy? or perhaps you are not online at home? (Obvious question is “How are you accessing this?” But that’s trivial at this point.) If either one is the case, then try Barnes and Noble or Borders. You can go in there and read any book on the shelf for free. Take the time, take some notes, just don’t take it out of the store without paying for it.


But what if you don’t have all day to spend at a book store? What if you need to grab something off the shelf and get home? There is always the old standby otherwise known as “the library”. They have free videos and books for the taking. The variety and amount of information may not be up to Barnes and Noble standards, but if you live in a large city there is bound to be something useful there. You may perhaps find a book or video on the “how-to”s of auto mechanics. (The Late Bloomer will almost always choose a video over a book.) Who knows, you might get lucky and learn something more than just how to change an air filter.

Below are a few more you can try.

Free magazine subscriptions.

Try this spot first. http://freebies.about.com/od/magazinesubs
If you don’t find what you want there, then use Google or Yahoo, or whatever search engine you want. I have been receiving several free magazines for years relating to the IT industry. There is usually some great stuff in some of them.

Free email subscriptions.

If you don’t like clutter then try free email newsletters. If you look hard enough and keep your ears open you’ll find someone who has a free email newsletter chock full of information you can use. I get several every day. Some political, some technically oriented, and some just for fun.

Take a class.

If you are really ambitious you could take a course on the subject.

I am quite sure that there are other methods of getting whatever knowledge and skills are needed for you to complete a task. But these are a few that will help the Late Bloomer ask for help and actually get it.