Today we are talking about advice. Not just any advice of course but rather GOOD advice. Hell, they are looking for the best advice I've ever received. So as always I'm going to give a little more than you bargained for and cover most of the interesting (though not necessarily useful advice) I've been given over the years.
Firstly who gives the best advice? Its probably going to be a family member, mum, dad or in more timeless areas grandparents. By that I mean most grandparents are able to provide a unique but often outdated advice. The most memorable piece of grandparently advice I've ever had was being told to chew my food 72 times before I swallowed it. Which my grandmother proceeded to make me do with cooked peas... ever chewed peas more than about 5 times? The mush consistency is near unbearable.
That was an example of frustrating advice bordering on useless advice. The difference frustrating advice is good for you but you hate it anyway. The large majority of my mother's advice falls into that category (sorry mum). Things like yes you should study and not stay up talking on msn. Even now she still reminds me that I should be making study plans or similar. Where as useless advice is exactly that 100% useless. Like a person telling you how to make good beer when you don't even drink beer let alone home brew the stuff.
The best advice is generally dished out on a personal level by people who know you well. Terrible advice is always that family friend's daughter who you've met once telling you how to get a boyfriend. Or better yet advising you on why you haven't got a boyfriend. Not that best friends advice is often much better. Its a bit of a mixed bag. They offer the most heartfelt advice which is the good stuff but are also most likely to give advice 'to go for it' - supportive advice - which may actually be the worst possible plan around.
Nevertheless there is final advice - most frequently given at school or at work - whenever you are 'under instruction' really. This is the kind of advice you can probably find in the 'self-help' section of the book store. Filled with clichés and non-clichés (when they have said that a particular cliché is false so often that you hear that as often as you once heard the cliché) it is generally taken with a grain of salt and hilarious to poke fun at (if you can get away with it without getting in trouble for talking).
Nevertheless some of the most useful - read best - advice I've had for was that last kind. You know what? Never, never volunteer. You get volunteered (at least in the military) often enough without you compiling onto it. Sure there is that once in a blue moon time when the people volunteering get the lesser of two evils. Don't let that fool you that is the exception and not the rule. To extend on it, never answer a dumb question asked to you at random by a superior. They do NOT care if you like strawberry ice-cream with chocolate topping it is just another ploy to get you to self-volunteer.
Finally a second piece of workplace advice I love is 'be the gray man'. At the same time never be the 'gray man'. The 'gray man' is the one the staff have their eye on for being an average achiever, passes everything but never excels. To 'be the gray man' you have to be smarter than that. You have to pick your strengths and play to them. Maybe you run fast, you make that the one thing the staff know about you, or if you do alright at maths make sure your maths result is a little better than a bare pass. It may be more effort but you are far less likely to be picked up for never working. Which contrary to belief the 'gray man' often is.
Good advice, bad advice, the most useless advice you have ever heard. Just remember it is generally said good naturedly. Simply smile and nod and remember that more often than not - no matter what people like to say - you often know already what works best for you. Even if you have never done something before if it sounds dumb it probably is dumb and you probably should work to that piece of advice like its the gospel. The fun part about that is it is advice to say don't take just any old advice. ;p
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