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35 People Share What They Thought Was A Useless Piece Of Advice, But Changed Their Minds After Trying It
Who doesn’t hate a piece of random advice coming straight at you with full force of unneeded impact? If there's anything the world would be better off without, it would be unsolicited advice.
But in reality, these wisdom bites from colleagues, friends, and whoever feels confident enough to throw one out are so common, you wonder how come they’re still legal. And one Reddit user u/5000Castillo decided to find out whether some of the advice is actually useful.
The question “What felt like a useless piece of advice until you actually tried it?” which, at first, seemed to be crossing the line, got almost 60K upvotes and a whopping 20.2K comments. The answers are in, and you will be surprised to hear the results.
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#1
My dad always told me ‘Ask anyway, the worst they can say is no’ when buying something or when I needed something from another person. Seemed stupid to ask if I was sure they would say no but I was also a socially anxious kid. Turns out that advice has helped me with school, with raises, with people in general, with plans with new friends...
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#2
Instead of saying, "I'm sorry for being late," or something,
say, "thank you for being patient"
Didn't realize the effect that could have on people, and instead of putting yourself down, you bring another up.
#3
Its better to lose a second of your life than to lose your life in a second.
People on the road need to just slow down a little. It’ll save your life
Bored Panda reached out to Dr. Audrey Tang, a chartered psychologist and the author of "Be A Great Manager Now" and "The Leader's Guide to Mindfulness," to find out more about unsolicited advice and what to do when you get a piece of it.
Audrey suggests viewing such advice as if it were a physical gift: “just because it’s offered, it doesn’t mean we have to accept it.” For this reason, the psychologist urges us to “never upset yourself over the opinion of someone from whom you have not asked advice.”
Moreover, Audrey believes that not all unsolicited advice is useless, especially “if it has come from someone who has experience within the subject matter.”
She said that if advice comes with examples, or evidence, or ways in which you can further research the area in question, it can indeed be very helpful. “This is true of forums too,” she added.
#4
Clean as you cook, dishes right away, and 10 minutes every day walking through the house picking things up/organizing.
So much better than hours of cleaning on one day
#6
Just don't drink today. Surely you can do that. Then just repeat.
It's been 19+ years.
However, as a psychologist, Audrey doesn't give advice unless it is sought (and paid for), “mainly because in most unsolicited contexts, there is no time to get into depth with any issue and I wouldn't want any form of misunderstanding on either part.”
The psychologist explains that unsolicited advice may have come because “someone thought it was solicited.” Other times, it comes from people “who are bored, or who want a distraction from dealing with things going on in their own lives.”
Audrey gave an example: “Rather than working on my own marriage, I might focus on giving relationship advice to others,” some think.
#8
On my wedding day my Grandmother said to me "Never do anything around the house that you don't plan on doing for life". At the time I thought it was a terrible advice. When I was mowing the lawn at 7 1/2 months pregnant I got what she meant.
#9
Cleanining your house before leaving for more than 5 days. Nothing is better than coming to a clean house.
Another theory on why some of us are so drawn to throwing out advice here and there comes down to the evolutionary aspect of humans living in communities.
Audrey explained: “We are fundamentally social creatures—in the past, we would have had to rely on our society to keep us safe—so we are likely to have an awareness of how to 'fit in' and a sense of unpleasantness when we do not.”
If we’re at odds with others, we may feel guilt. The psychologist summed up that “this can drive us to 'make comments' if it looks like someone is not fitting in.”
#10
My grandfather told me this and I never understood it until I had my own place. Always buy the cheap tools at first and if you wear it out/break it then you use it enough to justify getting a nicer more expensive one.
#12
When you’re stressed, make a to do list. I was always like, I KNOW WHAT NEEDS TO GET DONE I JUST CANT DO IT ALL. But if you write it down it doesn’t have to all live in your brain and you can focus.
#14
Just shut up and listen. Actually listen.
Too many people don't know how to just listen without thinking that they have to add to the conversation. No just stop. You don't have to add anything. You are not helping. You aren't even paying attention to wait is being said because you are thinking of what you can say.
#15
If it takes less than 5 minutes, do it immediately
I do so much less housework on weekends because of this
#18
My mom told me to spend good money on the things that separate you from the ground: tires, shoes, mattress. I finally bought good not cheap shoes and life was SIGNIFICANTLY better. They last so much longer and my back and posture improved too. She’s not wrong about tires and a mattress either
#19
Unclench your jaw, open your hands, drop your shoulders, and breathe in.
#20
If you dont have anything nice to say, dont say nothing at all.
People dont wanna hear "Eww, yuck, you like that?" When referring to someone's food for example.
#21
This too shall pass. On those days when I just feel like I can't take it I think of that, and I know tomorrow will be different. Someone once told me, "tomorrow may not be better, but at least it'll be different." In a strange way that too is comforting.
#22
My therapist told me the next time I'm going to have a panic attack to just give in and tell myself it was ok to have one . I told him he was crazy. After a couple tries it started working to my amazement. I haven't had a panic attack in 3 years
#23
If you have body image issues, find one even very small thing you like about yourself. My starting point was a freckle in the middle of my left hand. Whenever you’re feeling bad about yourself, remember you like that ONE thing. Find a new small thing to like about once a month if you can. It becomes easier to find things, and eventually easier to like yourself, in my experience. Thanks for that advice, Mom.
#24
Be yourself.
The less you care what people think and the more real you are, the more people start to like you.
#25
"Your gums bleed when you floss because you don't floss enough"
Turns out if you floss enough, your gums won't be inflamed so they don't bleed when you floss
#27
Keeping my shoulders back. It was a suggestion I saw for preventing panic/anxiety. Idk what it is, but when your shoulders are in that position it gives some strange feeling of control. I also read somewhere that during panic attacks the body basically wants to curl into fetal position for protection, so I feel like focusing on keeping your arms down and shoulders back is a conscious way to go against that and stay grounded in reality. Works for me, could work for you too.
#30
Life is really much easier if you clean your workplace/room. I clean my room often and it makes me feel calm and clears my head.
#31
I'm not great at this one, but "don't look for a happy life, look for happy moments".
#32
Using a stool to lift my feet into a squatting position to poo. What a difference!
#34
Not taking your cellphone into bed with you. After awhile you will sleep much easier without the distraction and blue light shining straight into your eyes before bed.
#35
If you have nausea, suck on an ice cube. The nausea will go down.
What do you think ?
Kesam 4 years ago
Here's mine: if unsure, always assume the best about people's intentions. If you are unsure if something someone said or did to you was meant to hurt or annoy you, assume it wasn't. This will make your life a lot easier and open your eyes to the crazy amount of smoldering conflicts that are caused by nothing but misunderstandings.
Lauren Caswell 4 years ago
I like this. I often asuume oh no what did i do to annoy so and so, when it has nothing to do with anything i did. It kinda works for that too ^-^
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WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
The best thing I ever read was " For everything in life there's one rule: The long way is the short way." And when you really think about it it's so true. Whenever you try to rush things the result is a mess and you often have to start from scratch to get a good result. Fun fact: "The short way is the long way" is also true.
Kesam 4 years ago
Here's mine: if unsure, always assume the best about people's intentions. If you are unsure if something someone said or did to you was meant to hurt or annoy you, assume it wasn't. This will make your life a lot easier and open your eyes to the crazy amount of smoldering conflicts that are caused by nothing but misunderstandings.
Lauren Caswell 4 years ago
I like this. I often asuume oh no what did i do to annoy so and so, when it has nothing to do with anything i did. It kinda works for that too ^-^
Load More Replies... WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
The best thing I ever read was " For everything in life there's one rule: The long way is the short way." And when you really think about it it's so true. Whenever you try to rush things the result is a mess and you often have to start from scratch to get a good result. Fun fact: "The short way is the long way" is also true.
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