What Advice Should You Follow?

Today's right is tomorrow's wrong.

There just seems to be so much chatter.

And by chatter, I mean all this direction with no destination, and no one life changed.?

Sure there might be a few out there that overhauled a couple of bad habits from all this unsolicited advice, but do the numbers reflect an overall betterness in our lives??

I am going to say no.?

And that is the catch 22 I guess. The impossible situation is that living is just tough, and to do the one thing that elicits change, something entirely different has to take place.?

So for all the well-meaning advice out there, 9 times out of 10 it falls on deaf ears.?

That is not to say that no one is listening, it’s just that a series of circumstances have to happen for a one-size-fits-all counsel to take effect.?

So I assume.?

More times than not, people don’t change much by something they read in the way of help.?

People are more reactive than proactive.

A diagnosis from say a doctor will hold more weight than a trainer who writes out 10 rules of caloric engagement in bullet points.???

Again, that is not to say that people don’t want to change, it’s just that the story has to be told a hell of a lot better than saying just do this and it will all work out in the end.?

Why? It worked for me, so it has to work for you.?

People will relate to the trainer's story if the story is personable enough. And even then, if it doesn’t check off a few emotional markers, the reader will continue to scroll or turn the page.?

The same could be said about almost all self-help, rules of creating, writing, skeet shooting, and basketball. Pick your interest and explore.?

Chances are you will walk away just as numb as before you started.?

I like self-help. Or any help to push me further along.?

It’s a good palette cleanser for when I have devoured a thick book and need some mindless nostalgic mementos about how my life can change if I just follow this mode of thinking.?

Just the other day I watched a podcast about the creator economy. The host had done a complete 180 in advice and now suggests that practicing in public does not guarantee results.?

It’s quality now. Not quantity.?

Never mind that in the pursuit of quality, a hell of a lot of quantity has to take place for you to grow.??

Which is it??

I didn’t suffer through 8 hours of meandering for you to tell me to pivot. I don’t have a well-oiled team to scrap my progress and take a different direction.?

Did he just move the goalpost??

I equate that to the trainer who tells his client that a no-protein diet doesn’t guarantee results because of a new diet fad sweeping the nation.?

What story are you trying to tell because that was not the advice given yesterday??

It goes back to this off-the-cuff chatter that has no real purpose other than to fill the void while we wait for something else to entertain us.?

No lives have been changed. Just more suggestions without real results.?

The story somehow got lost in translation because there was no story to begin with. Just a lot of mindlessness to fill the void of empty silence.?

Everyone is so caught up in this endless loop of exhausting validation that their words hold little merit that most of us will just spout off anything to feel relevant.?

There is no value when a husband from Detroit is handing out advice on storytelling like a Pez dispenser because of a book he thinks you should read.?

Let alone any type of depth from a 150-character post about the value of change.?

And certainly not from a millennial offering a bit of wisdom on working with boomers because of their worldly experience at their first job. Just living with mom and dad to save a little bit of extra money.?

It’s all well-meaning. I am sure of it.?

Case in point. (Me and this piece you are reading.)?

I was at the doctor for my 6-month check-up. Littered through the waiting room was all this plastic pontification on healthy living and diets.?

I say plastic because all this unsolicited advice is just as disposable.?

Out of the 8 people sitting in that waiting room, not a single person picked up a piece of material or looked at any of the informational pamphlets stacked up on the tables.?

Not a one.?

I bet if a doctor came through that room handing out diabetic warning signs and randomly gave them to a few people without comment, a few heads would perk up.?

Reactive because someone in authority made a suggestion.?

The subconscious of the story was the doctor targeted a few people who might want to take advantage of free information and not the other way around.?

The hook was the doctor. The plot was handing out the material and why. The climax was the individual taking the advice.?

The story was told without a word being spoken. Well-intended advice and no bullet points were given.?

Complete opposite of what we see and hear on any given day.??

It’s just noise.?

Too often we fall for the directions without clear instructions on how to get to our destination.?

And sometimes not bothering to question if that’s where we want to end up going.?

Worst of which it was a story that you should have never listened to in the first place.?

Be mindful of the advice that you are given. If you wouldn’t readily change places with the person giving that unsolicited instruction, then I would refrain from taking it.?

Read it. Put thought into it, but under no circumstances ever think it reflects you. Unless it is from a licensed professional.?

I skipped my first year of med school, so please do not take any dietary advice from me. I will on the other hand consider being referred to as a Doctor.?

It rolls off the tongue. Dr. Jason.?

So don’t follow my advice about taking advice from other people. I am just some dude at a desk smoking a cigarette.?

As far as taking any advice, I will leave that up to you.?

“I’m sorry for the bad advice. In my defense, at the time I was a moron.” -JS Park - Hospital Chaplain?