If you’re anything like me, you’d rather stick a hot needle in your eye than ask anyone for help. But for the sake of all things good and holy in the universe, please let people assist you with some of the more mundane day-to-day tasks.

Let them bring you dinner when they offer. Let others help you mow your lawn or take out your trash.

Your well-meaning family and friends are eager to take items off your to-do list, and I only have one suggestion.

Let them.

Even though you’re a Rockstar with a capital “R” for getting out of bed this morning, you don’t have to do it all.

In the beginning, I tried to do everything myself. As a Type-A perfectionist, I’m not very good at delegating. But I was swimming in paperwork, groceries needed buying, dinner needed making, homework needed checking, and the list goes on.

It was impossible for me to get everything done on my own. Plus, there were things I didn’t even know how to do (like turn on/off the lawn irrigation system). Even though I didn’t want help, I needed it. 

I’m sure you need help too. Please let people help you. 

The biggest lesson I learned is that it not only makes you feel better, it makes those helping you feel better too. People are eager to do something, anything to help you in your time of need.

If you feel uncomfortable asking for help or don’t even know what you need help with right now, use the following list of ideas.

When someone says, “let me know if you need anything,” please share this printout and get help with the most pressing or time-consuming tasks.

Download this list and add it to your binder (see Section 2 for information on how to create a binder for your files) so you can grab it and make copies when someone asks how they can help you. 

You'll find this document under the Downloads section below.