Skip to main content

The point of taking and giving advice

I love giving advice. I have this theory that if someone can benefit from an experience I have had, then why not? Good information is always a positive aid. At least that is what I believe in. People love and hate me for that. Love for  the difference I have made. Hate for the overabundance of good advice. 

I mean, everyone wants an advice. But how many are ready to accept it in totem? Everyone likes their own version of customized, made to order advice.  No one likes the straight as a tequila shot variety. They want you to add that syrup, that juice, that spirit and place the right umbrella or a lemon wedge on the top of the glass. 

I however, give the straight, honest advice with the bitter truth as a garnish. Anyways, whats the point of taking advice if you are not even interested in following it? It's disrespectful to the other person's intelligence when we ask for an advice and conveniently dispose it off like a tissue paper at lunch. 

I am not talking about myself here, just general observation. We ask so many pieces of advice from so many people and then get lost in a sea of opinions of everyone other than self. A lot of it is given with right intention.

So what to do if we are swimming in a swathe of solicited and unsolicited advice?

1. Ask only 1 or 2 people for an advice on a topic. 
2. Make sure you trust their opinion on the same.
3. Respect the advice given and ponder over it.
4. Don't take any advice on its face value. 
5. Think well, form your own opinion on the matter on the basis of advice received. 

                             


Then your whole advice process becomes more structured and well meaning. The person giving advice will feel your gratitude. You will be genuinely happy to receive the support.  The whole quality over quantity thing will take center-stage here and bring you peace.

For giving advice always take care
1. Only give advice for which you are yourself sure or expert in.
2. Be precise. You are not narrating a recipe here. Keep it short.
3. Be unbiased. Always.
4. Respect the other person. And their opinions. Don't be overbearing.
5. Don't bullshit. That's the reason, an advice is being sought from you. That you can offer something intelligent than bullshit.

Its not wrong to ask, its not wrong to tell. What is important is to communicate an advice well. 

So whats your advice to give and take advice?

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Does India need communal parties?

I think, it was Tan's post on this blog itself, Republic Day Event, where this question was raised. My answer. YES. we need communal parties even in Independent, Secular India. Now let me take you, back to events before 1947. When India was a colony of the British Empire. The congress party, in its attempt to gain momentum for the independence movement, heavily used Hinduism, an example of which is the famous Ganesh Utsav held in Mumbai every year. Who complains? No one. But at that time, due to various policies of the congress, Muslims started feeling alienated. Jinnah, in these times, got stubborn over the need of Pakistan and he did find a lot of supporters. Congress, up till late 1940's never got bothered by it. And why should we? Who complains? No one. But there were repercussions. The way people were butchered and slaughtered during that brief time when India got partitioned, was even worse than a civil war scenario. All in the name of religion. And there indeed was cr...
40 comments
Read more

Epitome of Equality

First of all This is not to demean any religion.. I am a Hindu by birth, but yes I respect all religions .I offer my daily prayers , fast on holy days , but there was something that was disturbing me . God as per me was a Friend, someone who was by my side always , someone who was a dear friend , but this is not what everyone else thought , for others he was the Judge who gives his verdict always and punishes anyone and everyone . Walk into any temple and you would see , if you have money , you will be treated in a way as if you are the ONLY disciple of the God . I have had too many experiences where I was treated as a second class citizen in the temple . Why? Well I could not afford giving thousands as donation. This is not how it should be , God looks at each one of us with the same divinity .As I mentioned God for me is a friend, so tell me, do we chose friends based on their bank balances? Do we give our verdict on them ? then how can God do it? I know many of us would ...
32 comments
Read more

Some Information Related to Guest Blogging

Many of us don't know about guest blogging. So, what is guest blogging?   When one blogger posts his content to another blogger's site it is termed as guest post/guest blog. This method can be used to increase traffic on our sites. Mainly new bloggers use this technique of blogging so that their blogs get promoted and they can build-up the relationship with the audience and this technique also helps them increase the traffic on their site.  If you have started a new blog, your blog might have trouble in reaching up with a wide range of audience, even if you have strong content to post. So, you can publish that content to someone else’s blog whose blog is already reputed so that people can read out your content and if they like your post than bingo!!! You grab audience attention and this lead to increase the number of audiences on your site. But make sure that the concept is simple, and you are writing the content according to the blogger’s requirement. The...
Read more