Below is a lesson from Stephen Shedletzky on naming your needs to unlock real help, as well as our key learnings.

The Blue Courage team is dedicated to continual learning and growth.  We have adopted a concept from Simon Sinek’s Start With Why team called “Learn, Share, Grow”.  We are constantly finding great articles, videos, and readings that have so much learning.  As we learn new and great things, this new knowledge should be shared for everyone to then grow from.

Help Wanted? Get Specific: What happened when I stopped being vague about what I needed

By Stephen "Shed" Shedletzky

A Little Light

“I’d rather be loud and told to be quiet than be quiet and not help out my teammates.”

— Brett Bateman, new Toronto Blue Jays Outfielder… and one of my new faves (Go Jays!)

From Shed

If you’ve been reading, you already know something felt off for me this summer. What I hadn’t quite figured out yet was what it was and what to do about it.

But then I started treating that feeling as data instead of a verdict; a source of information rather than something to judge myself for (correction: judge myself TOO much for). When I actually sat with it and articulated the feelings and gap aloud with my coach, mentors and friends, the information became clear: I had plenty of help, but I didn’t have a true professional partner — someone to maintain the operational gravity of my business while I strive for the creative altitude. And, thanks to my coach for that distinction in language too! 😊 What I truly needed was a strategic sparring and operations/execution partner.

Continue reading here.

Key Learnings: 

• Treat discomfort as data, not a verdict — it carries information worth examining rather than suppressing or judging.
• Vague distress stays stuck; articulating the specific gap out loud to a trusted person converts fog into actionable clarity.
• Having plenty of help is not the same as having the right help — precision matters more than volume.
• Speaking your need aloud, even imperfectly, activates your network in ways that silent hoping never will.
• The right professional partnership balances operational grounding with creative reach — each role serving a distinct purpose.
• Timing and preparation converge when you do the inner work first — clarity creates conditions for useful coincidence.
• Coaching and mentorship are not luxuries; they are force multipliers for self-awareness and decisive action.
• "I'm so busy" is a feeling, not a plan — replace it with a specific statement of what is actually missing.
• Naming a need to one person today is a low-cost, high-return practice that first responders and leaders can use immediately.
• Whole-person wellness includes professional alignment — operating in a role mismatched to your strengths drains resilience over time.