I was trying to decide what to write about the other day, and inspiration came from an unexpected place. For those of you who didn’t recognize the title, that’s the name of the U2 song that came up when I hit the shuffle feature on my iPod. It flipped the switch on the proverbial light bulb, and this post was born. However, the answers to everything don’t always just materialize.In a variety of topics, whether it be trying to get ahead at work, improve productivity, or just about anything, a theme that appears with reasonable frequency is knowing when to ask for help. But this seems to be an area where many people have trouble.

Part of the problem lies in the fact that many people see asking for help as a sign of weakness, and they don’t want to lose face. This problem can be further compounded by the delays in asking. It’s one thing to ask for a small favour when to prevent a big problem, but its wholly another issue to ask for someone to bail you out when you’ve delayed and things have blown up in your (or everyone’s) face.

So when is a good time to ask for help, you ask? There are a myriad of situations where you might ask. The basics boil down to this: you need to do something and you don’t have the resources to do it by yourself. This lack of resources could fall in any number of categories. It could be a lack of knowledge (you don’t know how to do or use something), a lack of tools (you don’t have the right equipment to get the job done), a lack of funds (you can’t afford it), a lack of energy (you’re just tired), or perhaps the most common, a lack of time.

Rectifying this lack of resources can be done through asking for help. For example, if at work you’re given a new project putting together a flashy new website design, but this isn’t your usual area of expertise. Now the primary problem here is a lack of knowledge, but there are several ways you can solve this. You could ask for training in web design, you could ask for funds to work with a freelance designer to utilize your input and knowledge of the company with his or her knowledge and skills in web design, you could ask for the proper software from IT and muddle through it on your own, or you could just try to learn some basic HTML and write everything in Notepad and give your company a website right out of 1997. Now, these will all have varying degrees of success, but I’d think that even looking at these options, barring you being a natural web designer able to jury-rig a modern website without previous training/experience or the proper tools, you will probably have more success with the earlier options. And that is by far an exhaustive list. For example, you might be able to work with a local college or design firm at a much lower (or completely absent) cost, giving you access to skills and knowledge without asking for money. All in all, there are many ways of getting this done, but very few of them are done without asking for help at all.

Taking the examples out of the workplace in into the other parts of your life, consider this situation. You have two children both playing hockey. They practice the same nights of the week at the same time, at two different rinks. You have one car. What are the options here? Drop one child off early, drop the second off at a better time, and then pick up the first one while the second waits? Not the most reasonable, nor is it the safest. Instead, how about talking to other parents on the teams, explaining your situation, and working out a ride-sharing system. Perhaps alternate weeks, so you drive each of your children on a regular basis, but share the load with others. To me, this seems like a far more balanced approach.

So we’ve covered some of the times you’ll want to ask for help, as well as a few examples. But other than improved work-life balance, what are the impacts of asking for help, or inverse, the impacts of not asking?

Let’s start with the negatives and get them out of the way. The obvious result could be that whatever you don’t have the resources to do doesn’t get done, or gets done poorly. If it becomes a frequent occurance, then you become a person who consistently can’t meet their commitments. This can have a long-term negative impact on many things, including your work, your friends and family, and your own self-confidence. Even if you do complete these things successfully, having the reputation as someone who just barely seems to get things done isn’t always desirable either.

The positives can be broad as well. If you ask for help when you need it, it shows several things. It shows that you have a strong awareness of your available resources, that you are willing to learn, and that you are willing to work in a team. It shows a combined self-awareness and self-confidence that makes you a dependable person that somebody wants to work with, raise a family with, or be friends with.

Asking for help can be a powerful tool in maintaining a healthy balance in all aspects of your life, work or otherwise. There will be situations where you won’t be able to ask, or situations where you don’t need to, but for those that do, take advantage when you can, and be proactive in maintaining the balance.