When Advice Is Not Free
The advice I cannot ignore is the one I never get
Are you good at giving advice? Some of you are.
Let’s say the lead character in a movie, a middle-aged man becomes a pauper owing to some bad decisions he made. He has absolutely nothing and nobody to help him, except his vast experience running a successful business. Long after the movie ends, you ruminate over the protagonist’s predicament when he was at his all-time low. And you come up with brilliant, actionable ideas — and they just come to you. If you were to be in that situation, you would be much better off.
Or there is this relative whose career is in mess. She is in the wrong field. She has strengths you can vouch for, but you have no idea why she cannot use her strengths to her advantage and launch a successful career. You have just the right recipe for her success, and it hurts you that she cannot see it.
In finding ideas to get many such people — real-life or fictitious — out of the woods, you display uncanny level-headedness and a keen sense of reasoning.
But, can you use some of these skills to pull yourself out of trouble? To solve a messy problem in your life?
No!
You draw a blank when it comes to your own situation. This is no surprise, as you need a…
