The Art of Asking
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help
About the book
Before she became a singer and songwriter, Amanda Palmer performed in a wedding dress as a living statue, silently asking passersby for money. Her 2014 memoir, with a foreword by Brene Brown, follows her from those early days as a performer through her music career, including the album her fans paid for after she left her record label, through what became the most successful music Kickstarter. It expands on her TED talk and looks at why fear of asking for help is so common, and how it can paralyze lives and relationships. Palmer wrote it in four months in early 2014, following a performance at the Sydney Festival.
Tim Ferriss said Palmer taught him to ask friends and family for help instead of isolating himself. Aysha Teja, a senior advisor at the Ontario Treasury Board Secretariat, wished she had read it when she was younger.
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This book has 4 recommendations
Kevin Lamping (Founder/WebdriverIO)
I'm working on *The Art of Asking* by Amanda Palmer. I'm hoping to gain a better understanding of how I can work with the audience I've built with my online video course, blog and YouTube tutorials, to really provide value to the few folks who enjoy my work.
Recommended by Tudor Mihailescu (Finance and Business Enablement Manager)
Source: Book Recommendations from Tudor Mihailescu, Finance and Business Enablement Manager
Aysha Teja (Senior Advisor/Ontario Treasury Board Secretariat)
A book I read relatively recently but wished I read when I was younger is The Art of Asking: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help by Amanda Palmer. I am horrible at asking for help. I’m afraid of being a nuisance, of appearing weak and mostly afraid of being rejected. I realized just how afraid I was when my cousin’s husband and one of my dearest high school friend insisted they help me move instead of hiring movers and my instinct was to say "No". When I finally accepted their generous offers to help, I realized that, yes, asking for help makes me vulnerable, but also enables connection. Using her own life experiences as a human-statue, musician, wife and friend, Amanda Palmer explores the questions why we’re afraid to ask and receive help as well as makes the case for increasing our shared humanity when we finally are able to do so. Since completing this book, I have started to ask for help when I normally would have found a way to do it myself.
Tim Ferriss (Author & Entrepreneur)
I tend to isolate myself, often at the worst times possible. Amanda helped me to learn to ask friends and family for help. It was a game changer.
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