Before you take someone’s advice, watch this video first.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
You ever found yourself wishing that you could learn faster? You know, to take all this scouring of the landscape and finding the perfect answers and just cut that down and get what you need so that you can get the results that you want.
Well, there is a way, there’s a way to dramatically shorten your learning time so that you can cut through the stuff that doesn’t work and find what does work for you right now because if you’re doing that, then you don’t waste time learning, you don’t waste time finding things that may or may not work.
And in my own journey I found that there are different categories of advice, there’s different categories of information and without knowing this, without understanding these categories, it’s very easy to find yourself wasting days, weeks, months, sometimes even years getting information that actually is preventing you from achieving what it is that you really want to achieve.
So with that being said, here are the four classes of advice ranked from least effective to most effective.
So the first one is advice that is unsolicited and unqualified. What does this mean? It means this is advice that someone is giving you that you haven’t even asked for and we’ve all been there, right?
The moment you decide that you wanted to achieve something, or maybe you start talking about it with family or friends or co-workers and everybody’s got an opinion. Everybody has an idea of what you should do to accomplish your goals and to achieve your dreams.
This advice may or may not be qualified, but it is frequently unsolicited. And so this is the first thing to ask yourself. Did I ask for this advice?
If you didn’t ask for the advice, then you have every right to say hey, you know what, it just isn’t right for me. I don’t think this is really what I need to be observing right now or this not what I need to be absorbing.
So with that in mind, you can then ask yourself, is this advice qualified? If somebody’s giving you advice, and they’re not getting the results that you want to get, in my book this person is not qualified to advise you.
They may be a beautiful human being. They may be getting results in other areas that are cool, but unless they’re getting the exact results or something very close that you wish to experience in your own life, to me that person is not qualified.
So the worst type of advice in the world is unsolicited, unqualified advice. Now we moved up the quality scale here in the world of advice and information and now we have the second category of advice, the second class, and this is advice that is qualified, but still unsolicited, unasked for.
And in case you haven’t noticed, there’s no shortage of this advice, either. There’s people that have certifications and maybe even some actual qualification, they’ve actually done what it is that you want to do, but you’re still not asking for it.
And how annoying is it, how much does it kind of get under your skin when you’re going about your own business and somebody comes up and says hey, you know what, I have just the thing.
And they’re giving you advice that you’re not asking for.
Even if they’re qualified, doesn’t a part of you just kind of resist that a little bit? Now, yes, that might be stubborn. It might not be the most intelligent thing to do. If somebody is qualified, we should listen to them. But until we are asking, our minds remain closed.
And if you’ve ever experienced giving somebody advice, if you’ve ever experienced seeing someone, maybe somebody very close to you that you know is having a hard time, somebody that you know you can help and you feel that impulse to just go teach them something, just go help them because they’re having a hard time, and then you wonder why they’re not taking your advice.
It’s simple. Advice that is not being sought, advice that is not being asked for, that’s a mind that’s closed.
And so if you’re in the space of helping people, if you’re somehow involved in the conveying of your own wisdom so that other people can win, this might mean that you’re a parent and you have kids that you want to see win.
Until a human being is asking for information, until they’re asking for help, that advice, no matter how qualified it is, is going to fall on a closed mind.
So the first category of advice and the worst advice in the world is unsolicited, unqualified. The second worst advice in the world is advice that is unsolicited, although qualified.
So now we start to get into effectiveness here. The third category of advice, the third class of advice, and this is the second-most effective advice in the world, that is advice which is solicited, which is being asked for, it’s being sought out.
Even if it’s not qualified, it’s more valuable than the other two categories that we’ve talked about. Why? Because when someone is actively seeking a solution, somebody’s looking for a way to solve a problem that they have, they’ll move heaven and earth, they’ll do whatever it takes to get information.
And if you happen to be somebody that’s giving information and somebody comes to you for help, they’re mind is open, they’re eagerly seeking a way to fix this thing. If you are seeking your own result, you might get information that isn’t that qualified, but you still benefit more than these other categories because you’re the one asking.
But you’ll save yourself the most time and you’ll have the most fun by seeking for and by feeling for this last category. This is the fourth category of advice and in my experience, it beats everything else, hands down.
And this is advice that is solicited and qualified. Advice that is being looked for and is qualified.
So you, in your own journey through life, your own path of finding how to get more of what you want in your life, how to be more of who you feel you’re here to be, these are all journeys that we’re all on. You will save so much time by simply asking is this person qualified to advise me?
If you’re asking and you’re actively seeking solutions, all you have to then do is find out and ask yourself, is this person qualified? And I’m not talking about the certifications that they might have. That’s cool. In many cases, it’s mandatory.
But just because someone is certified doesn’t mean they’re credible. And the opposite is true as well. Many of the most credible, qualified people in the world don’t have any certifications, they don’t any pedigree or any formal education.
But you can tell that they embody the results that you wish to experience. They’re healthier, wealthier, they’re happier, they’re more fulfilled, they’re more present. These are examples of qualification.
And so if you do nothing more than ask yourself this one question, this person who’s attempting to advise me, am I open to receiving that? And are they qualified? It’s a simple question, but it’s a question that can save you years of trial and error. It can save you years of wondering if it’s going to work for you.
Simply look to qualification. Is this person, or are these people embodying the results that you wish to experience? It’s as simple as that.
And if you’re in the advice-giving business, whether you’re an advisor, consultant, or a parent, is the person that you are wanting to help, are they open to it? Are they asking for help?
It’s a pretty simple way of looking at things and one that I believe can save a lot of pain for everybody involved and just make this whole experience of life a lot more fun. So, please consider this and judge by results.