Thursday, April 8, 2010

My Advice

Photo by Maurice Branger, 1925

"The true secret of giving advice is,
after you have honestly given it,
to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not,
and never persist in trying to set people right."
---Hannah Whithall Smith

I have some advice:
  1. If you want someone to take your advice, make them think they thought of it themselves.
  2. Don't take any credit when someone follows your advice and it works.
  3. When somebody asks for advice they usually just want validation.
  4. Quote a more important source than yourself when giving advice. The people who know you well enough to ask you for it, don't respect you enough to take it.
  5. When you ask for advice, don't immediately tell the person that you've already thought of that idea and it's a dumb one.
  6. Only ask someone's opinion when you have time to listen to it.
  7. Never follow up on the advice you gave, especially if it was unsolicited.
  8. Surround any tiny speck of criticism with mountains of praise.
  9. Take your own advice.
  10. Remember, our opinions only matter to the people who agree with us anyway.
What's your advice?


8 comments:

Christie said...

This is the rule of thumb especially with husbands.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I thank MrsOrganic for showing me the way to Oma. I have a feeling you could be changing my life a little.

Diane said...

Number 8 is my favorite. Both in receiving, and giving.

marta said...

you're always the go-to advice queen and you always make us think we thought all our good ideas up. but you taught us everything we know! keep the wise words coming.

Abby said...

I love this post cause you are great at giving advice. I love the last one, cause it seems to be so true!

Jake said...

You have been giving me good advice for years!! I hope I'm as wise someday.

the wrath of khandrea said...

hmm. that doesn't work for me, because mostly i just like to tell people what to do and then watch them do it. i also enjoy following up with a healthy dose of criticism on how they did it all wrong.

am i the only not-sweet-person that reads your blog??