Advice, like fruit, is best when it’s fresh. But advice quickly decays, and 15 year-old advice is bound to be radioactive. Sharing a life experience is one thing (grandparents are great at this – listen to them!), but advice is another thing. Don’t give advice about things you used to know. Just because you did something a long time ago doesn’t mean you’re qualified to talk about it today.
Tag: advice
Productivity Hacks: More Talk, Less Type
Productivity Hacks: More Talk, Less Type
This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers share their secrets to being more productive. See all their #productivityhacks here.I’ve lost count of the number of misunderstandings,Never email when you can call
Never call when you can video chat
Never video chat when you can face-to-face
This is, hands down with no exaggeration, one of the most inspiring and heartfelt collections of advice I have read.
Adding this to my advice trove for my almost-one-year-old daughter.
When people talk listen completely. Don’t be thinking what you’re going to say. Most people never listen. Nor do they observe. You should be able to go into a room and when you come out know everything that you saw there and not only that. If that room gave you any feeling you should know exactly what it was that gave you that feeling. Try that for practice. When you’re in town stand outside the theatre and see how the people differ in the way they get out of taxis or motor cars. There are a thousand ways to practice. And always think of other people.
Hemingway’s advice to aspiring writers (via explore-blog)
Someone gave this quote to me when I was a teenager. I don’t remember how it was delivered to me. I don’t think I even knew it was Hemingway at the time, but it was really impactful. Developing the skill to be a good listener and observer has helped in every aspect of my life – family relationships, friendships, romantic relationships, business and of course writing. These are skills worth honing.
Young and Brilliant: Wireframes for Thinking
Young and Brilliant: Wireframes for Thinking
“wireframes” or “sketches” (the semantics aren’t important here) are really like writing out long division. If you’re trying to think seriously about a software product, if you aren’t sketching things out, then you aren’t really thinking about it. Yes, some details are inane (“Where should I put the login button?”) but many more are the details that make up the service: Tumblr linking to its six basic post types wasn’t a detail, it markedly effected the way the service felt and was used. And these are the little details that we start to see once we can start externalizing bits of our short-term memory to paper.
As an even more general point, I’d say that confidence and fluency in sketching and diagraming is one of those things that can make us exponentially better thinkers.
I love this and agree 100%. Sometimes I use paper and other times I use software, but if you’re not writing it out in some way, you’re not thinking about it.
Life Lessons with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – Kareem on What He Wished He’d Known – Esquire
Life Lessons with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – Kareem on What He Wished He’d Known – Esquire
One of the things for which I am eternally grateful is that my dad compiled a small notebook of advice for his kids. I have read it many times and plan to do the same for mine.
When wandering the world, forget your business cards. Don’t look for more contacts. Instead, observe. Say hello to the people you see every day, but don’t make a fetish out of it. Stay interested in others. Be generous in your attentions but not showy. Don’t wink, snap your fingers, high-five, or shout, though laugh with those who do. It bears repeating: Look around. Remember names. Remember where people were born.
How much of your time is spent consuming things other people made (TV, music, video games, websites) versus making your own? Only one of those adds to your value as a human being.
[T]he smartest people are constantly revising their understanding, reconsidering a problem they thought they’d already solved. They’re open to new points of view, new information, new ideas, contradictions, and challenges to their own way of thinking.
Los Angeles Life Hacks – losangeles la lifehack | Ask MetaFilter
Los Angeles Life Hacks – losangeles la lifehack | Ask MetaFilter
Really great thread, especially if you are new to LA. I even learned a few things and I’ve lived here for 16 years.