Who to take advice from?

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!
• 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)
• 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
• 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?