  {"id":2704,"date":"2010-12-13T05:00:14","date_gmt":"2010-12-13T11:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.masonworld.com\/?p=2704"},"modified":"2026-04-03T05:18:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T10:18:25","slug":"tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Push Hard, Fail, and Then Ask for Help"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the biggest obstacles to progress in your business is not a lack of knowledge or skill. It is a fear of asking for help. And I get it. When you are building something on your own, there is a natural tendency to feel like you should be able to figure it all out by yourself.<\/p>\n<p>But that mindset will cost you months of wasted time if you let it.<\/p>\n<h2>The Try-Fail-Ask Framework<\/h2>\n<p>Here is the approach I have come to rely on after years of building my online business: push hard toward whatever you are trying to accomplish. Give it your genuine best effort. And if you cannot get it done after a real attempt, accept that you are stuck and ask someone who knows more than you for help.<\/p>\n<p>This is not the same as giving up at the first sign of difficulty. The &#8220;push hard&#8221; part matters. You learn the most by wrestling with a problem yourself first. The struggle builds understanding, even when it does not produce a solution. And when you do finally ask for help, you can articulate exactly where you are stuck, which makes it much easier for someone else to assist you.<\/p>\n<h2>Why We Resist Asking<\/h2>\n<p>Most people resist asking for help because of pride or fear. They worry about looking incompetent. They feel like asking is an admission of failure. Or they assume nobody would want to help them.<\/p>\n<p>The reality is almost always the opposite. Most people who are experienced in your area are happy to help when they see someone who has genuinely tried and gotten stuck. What frustrates experts is not being asked for help. It is being asked by someone who clearly has not tried anything on their own first.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting Better at Asking<\/h2>\n<p>The first time you ask for help, it might feel uncomfortable. That is normal. But like any skill, it gets easier with practice. Here are a few tips:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Be specific.<\/strong> &#8220;Can you help me?&#8221; is vague. &#8220;I am trying to set up email automation in ConvertKit and the trigger sequence is not firing &#8212; here is what I have configured&#8221; gives someone enough context to actually help you.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Show your work.<\/strong> Explain what you have already tried. This demonstrates effort and respect for the other person's time.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Choose the right person.<\/strong> Ask someone who has actual experience with your specific problem, not just anyone who is available.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Return the favor.<\/strong> When you can help someone else in the future, do it. Building a network of mutual support is one of the most valuable things you can do as an entrepreneur.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The Bottom Line<\/h2>\n<p>Grinding away in isolation on a problem that someone else could help you solve in minutes is not persistence. It is stubbornness, and it is expensive. Push hard, do your best, and when you hit a wall, have the courage to ask. You will be amazed at how much faster you make progress.<\/p>\n<p>For more on building resilience and getting unstuck, listen to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/internet-marketing-podcast\/\">Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@type\": \"BlogPosting\",\n  \"name\": \"Push Hard, Fail, and Then Ask for Help\",\n  \"headline\": \"Push Hard, Fail, and Then Ask for Help\",\n  \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\/\",\n  \"datePublished\": \"2010-12-13T05:00:14\",\n  \"dateModified\": \"2026-04-03\",\n  \"description\": \"Stop wasting time grinding alone. Mark Mason shares the try-fail-ask framework for making faster progress in your online business.\",\n  \"author\": {\n    \"@type\": \"Person\",\n    \"name\": \"Mark Mason\",\n    \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/about\/\",\n    \"jobTitle\": \"Host, Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast\",\n    \"description\": \"Mark Mason helps part-time entrepreneurs build internet businesses one night at a time. Podcasting since 2009.\",\n    \"sameAs\": [\n      \"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/late-night-internet-marketing-mark-mason-affiliate\/id323964382\",\n      \"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/latenightim\",\n      \"https:\/\/twitter.com\/markmason\"\n    ]\n  },\n  \"publisher\": {\n    \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n    \"name\": \"Late Night Internet Marketing\",\n    \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/\"\n  }\n}\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the biggest obstacles to progress in your business is not a lack of knowledge or skill. It is a fear of asking for help. And I get it. When you are building something on your own, there is a natural tendency to feel like you should be able to figure it all out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"push hard fail ask help","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Push Hard, Fail, and Then Ask for Help | LNIM","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Stop wasting time grinding alone. Mark Mason shares the try-fail-ask framework for making faster progress in your online business.","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[510,523,617,618,1013,1019,1594],"class_list":["post-2704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles-on-motivation","tag-failure","tag-fear","tag-goal","tag-goals","tag-motivation","tag-motivational-tip","tag-wasting-time"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Push Hard, Fail, and Then Ask for Help | LNIM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Stop wasting time grinding alone. Mark Mason shares the try-fail-ask framework for making faster progress in your online business.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Push Hard, Fail, and Then Ask for Help | LNIM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stop wasting time grinding alone. Mark Mason shares the try-fail-ask framework for making faster progress in your online business.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/masonworld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-12-13T11:00:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-03T10:18:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/latenightlogo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"434\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"208\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Mason\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@masonworld\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@masonworld\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Mason\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mark Mason\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9372eea62aeac9834382c69e9ed9fd90\"},\"headline\":\"Push Hard, Fail, and Then Ask for Help\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-12-13T11:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-03T10:18:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":519,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"failure\",\"fear\",\"goal\",\"goals\",\"motivation\",\"motivational tip\",\"wasting time\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Articles On Motivation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\\\/\",\"name\":\"Push Hard, Fail, and Then Ask for Help | LNIM\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-12-13T11:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-03T10:18:25+00:00\",\"description\":\"Stop wasting time grinding alone. Mark Mason shares the try-fail-ask framework for making faster progress in your online business.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Push Hard, Fail, and Then Ask for Help\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason\",\"description\":\"Building Internet Businesses With Affiliate Marketing One Night At A Time\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/IM-Podcast-700sq.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/IM-Podcast-700sq.jpg\",\"width\":700,\"height\":700,\"caption\":\"Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/masonworld\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/masonworld\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9372eea62aeac9834382c69e9ed9fd90\",\"name\":\"Mark Mason\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6b800c425c86cd473783904b834b3d5ac57ba0fe956ffc196a60e026d7269008?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6b800c425c86cd473783904b834b3d5ac57ba0fe956ffc196a60e026d7269008?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6b800c425c86cd473783904b834b3d5ac57ba0fe956ffc196a60e026d7269008?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Mason\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.latenightim.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/masonworld\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Push Hard, Fail, and Then Ask for Help | LNIM","description":"Stop wasting time grinding alone. Mark Mason shares the try-fail-ask framework for making faster progress in your online business.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Push Hard, Fail, and Then Ask for Help | LNIM","og_description":"Stop wasting time grinding alone. Mark Mason shares the try-fail-ask framework for making faster progress in your online business.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\/","og_site_name":"Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/masonworld","article_published_time":"2010-12-13T11:00:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-03T10:18:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":434,"height":208,"url":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/latenightlogo.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Mark Mason","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@masonworld","twitter_site":"@masonworld","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Mason","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\/"},"author":{"name":"Mark Mason","@id":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9372eea62aeac9834382c69e9ed9fd90"},"headline":"Push Hard, Fail, and Then Ask for Help","datePublished":"2010-12-13T11:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-03T10:18:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\/"},"wordCount":519,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["failure","fear","goal","goals","motivation","motivational tip","wasting time"],"articleSection":["Articles On Motivation"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\/","url":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\/","name":"Push Hard, Fail, and Then Ask for Help | LNIM","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-12-13T11:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-03T10:18:25+00:00","description":"Stop wasting time grinding alone. Mark Mason shares the try-fail-ask framework for making faster progress in your online business.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/tip-38-push-hard-fail-and-ask-for-help\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Push Hard, Fail, and Then Ask for Help"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/","name":"Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason","description":"Building Internet Businesses With Affiliate Marketing One Night At A Time","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/#organization","name":"Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason","url":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IM-Podcast-700sq.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IM-Podcast-700sq.jpg","width":700,"height":700,"caption":"Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast with Mark Mason"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/masonworld","https:\/\/x.com\/masonworld"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9372eea62aeac9834382c69e9ed9fd90","name":"Mark Mason","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b800c425c86cd473783904b834b3d5ac57ba0fe956ffc196a60e026d7269008?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b800c425c86cd473783904b834b3d5ac57ba0fe956ffc196a60e026d7269008?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b800c425c86cd473783904b834b3d5ac57ba0fe956ffc196a60e026d7269008?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Mason"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.latenightim.com","https:\/\/x.com\/masonworld"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2704"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32831,"href":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2704\/revisions\/32831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.latenightim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}