Are you helping — or taking their turn?
Someone asks what to do. You already know the answer. Before they have finished describing the problem, you start explaining the solution.
Are people really too dependent on you, or have you become too quick to provide the answer?
An answer can save time now and remove a chance to practise thinking. That does not make helping wrong. It makes the timing worth noticing.
Before stepping in, find out where the other person has got to. They may need information, a little time, or permission to try. Those are different kinds of help.
Every answer you give can also be one less problem somebody else gets to solve.
TRY THIS 01 SMALL EXPERIMENT
When somebody asks for a solution today, first ask, “What do you see?” Then wait five seconds.
Today, or the next time it happens.A question from Jana’s collection