Sunday, January 11, 2009

ad-vice squad!

What percentage of the advice you receive in your lifetime should you discard? 35%?
How much of the advice we receive, good intentions notwithstanding, is not really about us at all, but about the person doing the advising?
45%?
Think about your dreams and fears. Your biases and desires. Your regrets and angers, and your wish to shape the world. Now think about a time you gave advice, and try to separate your ego from the advice you gave...think about the person you advised, and whether your advice would have been different had you been able to think only of that person...their dreams, their happiness, nothing else.
55% discard rate, perhaps?
Look kindly upon the person who starts advice with, "If I were you...". At least they're not deluding themselves into thinking they can remove self-interest.
65%?
They say that the only man you can ever trust is your father. They're mostly right, except for the part about ol' Dad. Sadly, Daddies are among the most egregious "own-image" molders in the whole world (Mommies, too).
So, 75%?
Tyrants shape the world by force. The rest of us just give advice.
85%?
Ancient Chinese maxim: he who gives advice seeks to fill his own emptiness (okay, maybe it's not ancient or Chinese).
95%?
Now you're just being paranoid. You're bound to get some good advice in your lifetime.
At least from me, anyway.
Right?

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