“Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that’s no reason not to give it.” –Agatha Christie
We have a funny relationship with advice. Most appreciate that good advice is very helpful, but we are often slow to recognize its wisdom. When we think about good advice we have been given over the years, it is often fondly associated with the person who has given it to us, as if the advice was a snapshot of the wisdom of the person and our relationship with that person.
We can advise you that custom embroidered sweaters and screen-printed apparel is good for your business, and that it is a great way to help share who you are with the world, but if you hear it from your Grandmother, you are more likely to believe her!
Last week we asked our employees about memorable advice they have gotten over the years. This was their response:
Original Prompt: What is some of the best advice anyone has ever given you? It could be something practical or something financial, or even something humorous.
JJ: For me, it was less of a piece of advice and more of a mantra that a friend in college lived by: people are always worth it. No matter what he was in the middle of or how much studying he had left, my friend would put everything aside if a friend or his girlfriend or even one of his roommates needed him. I’ve found that his people-first philosophy has really helped me sort through my priories as my life has changed over the years.
Savannah: Attitude is Everything
Lauren: Attitude is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, money, circumstances, than failures and success, than what other people think, say, or do. It is more important than appearance, ability, or skill. It will make or break a business, a home, a friendship, an organization. The remarkable thing is I have a choice every day of what my attitude will be. I cannot change my past. I cannot change the actions of others. I cannot change the inevitable. The only thing I can change is attitude. “Life is ten percent what happens to me and ninety percent how I react to it.” – Charles Swindoll
Jessica: You’d worry less about what people think about you if you knew how seldom they do.
Stephen: Never stop doing something just because you make a mistake. When I first started playing sax, I had a lessons teacher in high school that I would go through pieces with once a week. I had a bad habit of making a mistake halfway through a piece and stopping the entire thing and either picking back up or starting over. It got to the point where he was literally yelling “Keep going! Keep going!” in my face while I was playing in every lesson until I was automatically mentally notating my mistakes while playing, and finishing the pieces. He said by stopping every time, I was putting too much focus on the mistakes, and not giving myself a chance to make the rest of the piece beautiful. By stopping, I was robbing myself of anything good that could come out of the rest of it. I can always go back and fix those mistakes later when practicing, and it’s just as important to yourself to mentally notate and point out the things you’re doing right, as well as the things you make mistakes on. Seriously one of the most important teachers of my life, and completely changed me musically.
Shannon: “Complaining is something that seems to come so easy and so naturally to us, but the problem is: complaints have no magic. They don’t make anyone’s day better, and they don’t help any situation. Try going on a complaint cleanse. Monitor when complaints pop into your mind, and instead of saying them out loud, let them go. When we do this, we allow for our language to be part of how we make the world more magical and more peaceful.” – Cleo Wade
Fred: Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.
Alex L: Wear Sunscreen.
Kyle: The best time to start is yesterday. The second-best time is today. Don’t wait until tomorrow to do or chase something you want…It’s never too late.
Zac: Best advice was from grandma. The saying in Greek is “Me Ta Matia San Tesera” which translates to “May you have 4 eyes.” Whenever she would say this it would mean that we don’t see things the way they are, we tend to see things the way WE are, so it was always a lesson to really step back and really see the things that were in front of you with truth.
Will: Dad when I told him all the baby books I read and classes I went to before Phoenix was born: ‘Son. You don’t even know how much you don’t know. You need to start acting like it.’….humility. I find humility is wildly important if you plan on learning from others or becoming a better person. I find humility also ties in with bravery quite a bit.
Clara: You’ll never reach your full potential if you allow others to decide your strengths, weaknesses and passions.
Kyle: My mom has always told me “Life is about relationships. With people, with the world, with yourself.”
Ron: “never let them see you sweat” — a deodorant advertisement, I think The best way to feel confident is to feel others feeling confident in you. I don’t recommend masking emotions at every turn, but putting on a brave face through anxiety typically makes the anxiety go away — particularly since one of the major contributors to any anxiety is “what will people think of me?” Eliminate that and I start feeling better and I’m better able to deal with “the problem at hand.”
Ed: Make sure you are aware of your needs versus your wants. Advice first offered by dad when getting a weekly allowance for the first time as a kid.