• Instruct people.
• Tell or imply that they should help our debt they don’t have a choice about it.
• Using unnecessary prefaces makes people feel trapped.
• Profusely apologizing makes the experience seem less positive.
• Emphasizing reciprocity can make people feel i...

• Studies indicate that people are willing to help more often than we expect.
• Studies suggest that we underestimate how much effort those who do agree to help will put in.
• Those who help others get to feel better with themselves than those who don’t.

... activates the same brain regions that physical pain does. And in the workplace, where we’re typically keen to demonstrate as much expertise, competence, and confidence as possible, it can feel particularly uncomfortable to make such requests.