30 June 2026 No matter what you’re doing, from building a civilization on Mars to getting a summer internship, you will have to ask people for help. Yet, most people get this crucial skill wrong. They put themselves at the front of their request, when they should be putting the other person there. But isn’t getting help just charisma and luck? No, asking for help is a skill , not an attribute you are assigned at birth like green eyes. How do you ask for help from people? There is only one principle. Put yourself in their mind . All good communication is grounded in an understanding of the reader’s mind. And so, I have some heuristics I would recommend when you ask for help from people you don’t know. One heuristic to remember is that help is about people before it is about projects. When you ask for help from someone, their helping your project is predicated on them wanting to help you. So, you should make it clear that you are someone worth helping.…