Different types of people you could take advice from
- Yourself
- You know yourself the best
- But…
- Your mind hides stuff for you
- You may not have the right experience or knowledge
- People with success in what you want to achieve
- Successful people don’t always know the truth
- Luck: Millions of people might have used the same advice and failed! (Survivorship bias)
- The book “In search of excellence” identified 8 common traits from 50 successful companies,
- But out of the 35 that are publicly traded, 20 is now below the market average & 5 went bankrupt!
- But if they continue to have success upon success, then it’s more likely that they know what they are talking about!
- Successful people don’t always know the truth
- Scientists
- Their entire careers are focused on finding the truth
- But…
- They don’t know anything about your circumstances
- Their science may be biased to sell some product.
- Someone who failed
- Learn from their mistakes
- Coach or mentor
- They can get to know you & may have faced the obstacles you are likely to encounter.
- Close relationships
- They know you better than most people.
- But… they don’t want to hurt your feelings, so they might not tell the truth
Is what they are saying good advice?
- Consider the advice giver’s background
- Knowledge & life experiences
- Motivations/Goals
- Emotional state
- Consider if the advice-giver is accountable for the results
- Good advice is more likely to come
- If they have results & have earned them
- Then they may have moved through the same obstacles that you will encounter
- If they base their advice on many unbiased samples and know how to make conclusions from it (Scientists)
- If they have results & have earned them
- Bad advice is more likely to come from
- People who don’t know your background
- People with different circumstances or goals.
- People who don’t practice what they preach
- People who don’t want to hurt your feelings
- Quitters (Even though they could be right)
- People with a bias
- People who want to sell you something
- Choice supportive bias
- Most people will give advice that supports the decision they made themselves.
When asking for advice
- Consider whether you already know the answer
- Mention:
- Where you are
- Where you want to go
- The options you are already considering
- Relevant context
- Don’t nod if you don’t understand the advice.
- Listen to your own reaction when receiving the advice
- Be aware of confirmation bias
- We don’t like advice that contradicts what we already believe
- Be aware of confirmation bias
- Don’t act immediately. Give yourself time to process it.
Other facts:
- People give advice based on what they want to do
- Listen to many different opinions
- The Dunning-Kruger Effect
- People who know nothing think they know everything
This was my advice on who to take advice from… Do you agree?