The Art of Asking Summary
4 min read ⌚
The Art of Asking is SO FULL OF Amanda Palmer.
She fills the pages with herself to the brim, to the point where you really, really want to meet her.
Her writing makes you want to go up to her and ask: ‘how can you be so honest, so genuine and so open?’
Who Should Read “The Art of Asking” And Why?
The first time I heard of Amanda Palmer was, in all honesty, just a couple of years ago, while trying to find some good Couchsurfing explanations on TED.
The Art of Asking is an excellent extension of that TED talks. Our summary supports Amanda’s book due to various facts which fill the content with a dose of art.
Therefore, we find it suitable for the broader audience, especially for the bashful ones.
BOUNDARYLESS / THE ART OF ASKING
Asking is a building block for any relationship.
The Art of Asking Summary
Leave it to the experts to explain the concept to someone who just doesn’t get it. Well, that didn’t work, but at least I acquainted myself with her.
Some of the honest and heartbreakingly honest stories from the different stages of her life: from mixtapes and self-deprecating teenager fallouts to the age of CDs and the encounter with the band who would challenge and change her life as an artist.
Readers take “The Art of Asking” as a guidebook for building relationships. The book’s flow carries special ideas which convey a strong message – The greatest strength lies in understanding. Nowadays, people have difficulties when committing to one another, so don’t underestimate the power of trust, and honesty.
Modern times present a burden from the past; this mental weight is a challenge that every person needs to overcome. The biggest killer of relations often is related to envy.
The society forces us to compete for tangible and intangible things. Perhaps these concepts endanger the very nature of commitment. Nonetheless, 12min proudly presents this book summary that will help you soar on a personal level.
What you find while reading through is that The Art of Asking (yes, it is an art, but even if it wasn’t, Amanda could still turn it into one) is so intertwined with the art of Trusting and the art of Giving, that you cannot have one without the others.
You may think :
- Why would one want to learn how to ask? We all know how to do that!
- Why even ask? I’m better and above all that.
- Is this book going to teach me how to manipulate – erm, sorry, convince people into giving me what I want?
This book talks about none of that. This is a book about human connections, intimacy, trust.
The Art of Asking aims to get people, in the words of Brené Brown: ‘Uncomfortably close. Dangerously close. Beautifully close.’
The title has an extension: ‘How I learned to stop worrying and let People help.’ And that, folks, is what this book is really about. The feelings you get from going through the pages are a mix and flurry of:
- We all struggle with asking. We’re all human and afraid to ask.
- Afraid because it makes us vulnerable -Will she say no? Will he laugh? Will they judge me?
- It takes courage to stand up and ask. courage and trust.
- Asking is a building block for any relationship.
- Wonderful things start happening once you let go and start trusting.
Openly sharing plenty of details in her life, relationships and ways to make a living, Amanda fights to debunk the myth that vulnerability is a weakness, that asking means begging. There is, however, a clear-cut difference between asking and Asking.
Asking without giving IS begging. Merely expecting people to give you stuff if you hold out your hand, is begging.
Asking, on the other side, is a human connection, a relationship of I trust you to give, and the other person saying, I trust you because you don’t expect unconditional giving and because you gave back.
You’d think ‘easier said than done’, you’d say ‘Easy for her to say, she was not afraid to put her hat down and ask, she freaking raised a million dollars on Kickstarter.’
I urge you read the book exactly because of that. Because you may think that asking comes easy for Amanda. It didn’t.
She is the first to admit it and she constantly battles her inner ‘Fraud Police’ while trying to let people give. In her words: ‘I’ve had a problem feeling real all my life.
I didn’t know until recently how absolutely universal that feeling is. Her music may not be your cup of tea. But this book. it’s hilarious, witty, painfully sad, honest and wise, and we love it.
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The Art of Asking Quotes
You know what’s really cool? Wake up every morning, decide what you feel like doing, and do it. Click To Tweet There's really no honor in proving that you can carry the entire load on your own shoulders. And...it's lonely Click To Tweet In both the art and the business worlds, the difference between the amateurs and the professionals is simple: The professionals know they’re winging it. The amateurs pretend they’re not. Click To Tweet And when you’re afraid of someone’s judgment, you can’t connect with them. You’re too preoccupied with the task of impressing them. Click To Tweet Eat the pain. Send it back into the void as love. Click To Tweet
Emir is the Head of Marketing at 12min. In his spare time, he loves to meditate and play soccer.
