Advice

Understanding when to receive advice, when to ask for advice, who to ask for advice, when to take advice on board. To know when to give advice, how to give advice and whether to give advice. Personally or professionally. It’s a lot for your mind to take in right? Let’s tackle one by one.

When to receive advice if you’re in a position in life where you feel you’re making the same mistakes over and over. You don’t believe you’re progressing or getting anywhere. Seek for advice. Find someone who will understand what you’re going through and will help lead you on the right path.

Example: You’ve studied the craft you want to pursue in your career. You’re getting some projects, work and clients in but feel as if it’s going too slow after the first year. Find someone who’s 2/3 or even 4 years in their journey. See how they overcome the first year to reach their point. Always try to seek advice from those who have the experience that you want to earn yourself.

When to ask for advice, this depends on timing. If your in a situation and need an immediate exit out, ask the most ideal person you know for the right plan of action — to get out quickly. But perhaps it’s something more progression that will take more time. Ask the most ideal person you know for the right strategy or plan based on the timing you have in mind.

Example: If you want to lose weight by the end of the year, find a personal trainer who can help you build a plan for the next 5 months worth of exercising. So when the time arrives, you should have the results you wanted. It could be a more immediate situation where you want results quicker, meaning the plan that is implemented will take place in a more intense manner over a shorter period of time.

When to take on board advice, a lot of us tend to get advice from many people in all directions of life. But how do you decide which piece of advice to take on board? Well from those who are giving you advice, who would you swap places with? Meaning who’s in a position that you want to be in, in life? If you know who — take on board their advice. They should know what to do and say, considering they’re in the position you want to be in right?

Example: If you want to become a successful investor, find someone who’s successful on this current day at investing. Pick their brains. If you don’t know anyone, find a book from a successful investor and start reading.

If you can’t find the right person to speak to or doubt you’ll ever bump into Tony Robbins or Warren Buffet in your local coffee shop. Read their books. Listen to their interviews. There is a lot of content on the Internet surrounding the topics you want to know more information about.

When to give advice this depends on the situation of course. Observe it like this if you can. If you’re witnessing someone you love or care about — experiencing the same pain or struggle you once encountered and you know if you opened your mouth to give them advice that they could benefit from and could have a positive impact on their life. Do it. If not, don’t do it. Find someone else that could potentially help them.

How to give advice we all can’t do it the exact same way. Some of us will write it down in a letter. Some of us will just say it straight away. Some of us may sit you down, talk you through it and give you examples. We all do it differently, but what matters is understanding what result, reaction or outcome you want to influence with your advice. Figure out the end goal and you’ll understand which approach is more appropriate to get the result, reaction or outcome you want for them.

Example: If you don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings, don’t give them advice that will upset them. Give them advice that will make them smile, cry tears of joy or get up and do something about their situation.

Whether to give advice does relate to when to give advice above, but what’s different about this situation is whether you’ve given the same advice before and the person who’s received it didn’t benefit from it. Whether it wasn’t the right advice or the best execution, only they will know. So it’s great wanting to be able to repeat it again but sometimes you have to take a step back and let them learn themselves. That’s also giving advice.

How you may ask? “Your not saying anything” that’s right because silence is also an answer. If you believe that saying something again and again won’t help the person, then don’t say a thing. But allow them to eventually figure it out themselves. They will definitely be replaying your advice in their head until they get it right.

I’ve influenced the direction of Austieng’s content to be a source for advice. Creating content that surrounds our personal and professional experiences and challenges. We aim to provide you with an insight into what you can or should do to apply our ideas and methods to your own.

We will always welcome individuals, brands, companies, collectives or startups to request our advice. Whether via email at info@austieng.com or tweet us your question @Austieng or @domlivingston.

Let us know how we can help.