Good intentions are not synonymous with good advice

  Good intentions are not synonymous with good advice

 

People you trust and who truly may have your best interests in mind are not always capable of providing you with good advice. That’s because they haven’t been in your position. They haven’t experienced what you’re experiencing. And they don’t have your attitude. And they’re not you.

Everyone in the stands always knows what play to call, or what pitch to swing at, or how to handle the broom around the stone. (Did you like that one?) But it’s easy to guess and opine when you don’t have the pressure on you, when you’re not responsible for the actions. Even another person in the game can’t always give advice because they hit curve balls better than you do but you hit fastballs better than they do.

Create your own metrics for success. Can you emulate others and learn from them? Sure. You might admire a lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean you need to have the same furniture or drive the same cars.

A lot of you are advertently or inadvertently taking others’ advice to heart, others who with the best of intentions are giving you the wrong directions. You should know better to listen to some guy in a bar in Tulsa Airport (does Tulsa have an airport?). But you should also know better than to listen to your lawyer about business advice, right?

Stop listening to “them.” Listen to people who have been there and done that, who can ski the way you want to ski, who have succeeded the way you want to succeed.

But most of all, listen to your own heart and soul.