A lot of people will offer you advice. Most of it, you should avoid.
Avoid people who tell you that you can have what you want without having to put forth the required effort. The people who care about you will tell you that the effort is required and believe that you are capable of exerting that energy.
Avoid people who tell you that you don’t have to do something that is required of you when they don’t already have what you want. They are not credible, and it’s likely they weren’t good at what they are telling you that you must do. The people who have what you want will tell you what is required, and that it was more difficult and took longer than they expected.
Avoid advice from pure theorists who have no experience with the practical application of what they suggest you should do. Good ideas and good intentions are important, but messy execution is how those results are produced. Look to people who have actually executed.
Avoid people who tell you what you want to hear when they profit from you taking their advice. Motives matter. The advice you should pay closest attention to is the advice that makes you uncomfortable. A difficult truth is always better than the easy lie.
Avoid people who promise you fast results and overnight success. Fast results, when they are obtained, are ephemeral. Listen to advice from people who recommend disciplined action and a persistent patience. Lasting results follow the laws of the universe: You plant in the Spring, you harvest in the Fall.
Avoid people who have lowered their own standards and who would ask you to lower yours. Their advice, even when given with good intentions, isn’t given for your benefit. They’ve given up on themselves. You are still pure potential. You should continually raise your standards.
Avoid advice on how to do something from someone who wasn’t able to do what you want to do. Their advice will only be their own justification for failing and a way to protect their own ego. Listen instead to someone who failed on their attempts and persisted until they found success.
If you are going to listen to advice, first determine whose advice is worth taking.
