How to respond to advice

I’m active on a couple of online forums where software creators, both actual and would-be, ask for advice. Sometimes I’m the one asking for advice.

It is easy to hear the advice and then explain to the advice-giver why they are wrong, or why their advice is not applicable to you. I don’t think this is a helpful way to respond.

I’m going to tell you how I’ve learnt to respond. It is a two sentence response. I use it almost verbatim whenever I’ve asked for advice and received it:

Thanks for the advice. I’ll take it into consideration.

Feel free to use those two sentences yourself. Copy+paste it. Rewrite it. Whatever.

I write these sentences even when I think the advice-giver has missed the point or doesn’t really know what they are talking about. I write it when they clearly do know what they are talking about, which is often.

I find that when I force myself to openly acknowledge that I’m accepting the advice, something strange happens. My brain actually does become more accepting of the advice. Just by going through the motion of accepting the advice, I come to realise that the advice is pretty good. Why? I don’t know. It seems human psychology is a complex thing.

So…if you are asking for advice, instead of arguing with the advice giver, give my approach a shot.