How To Spot Bad Advice - Hint: It's Not Always Intentional

We all look for advice when we're lost, may it be on social media or from family and friends. While it's true that there's a lot of good advice out there, it's also true that we often don't have a way to know if it's good or not.

More specifically, if it's suitable for us personally.

One of the biggest misconceptions regarding bad advice is that it's always intentional and people who give bad advice want to ruin other people's lives on purpose.

But that's far from the truth.

More often than not, especially in everyday scenarios, bad advice is just an honest mistake and is cultivated out of a generally-accepted belief that people never bothered to doubt.

Think of it this way - a piece of good advice is like a well-tailored suit made specifically for you keeping in mind all your personal needs and expectations.

Bad advice is like buying a suit by listening to recommendations but without wearing it first and judging by yourself if it fits you.

It could either be a hit or a miss.

In most cases, people do exactly that, especially older folks. They give us the same advice that has worked for them for ages, but forget to consider our personal needs in their advice.

That's because they grew up in a time when people shared a more collective mindset and dealt with the same problems having the same solutions.

But in this day and age, that philosophy just doesn't work anymore because we're more individualistic now more than ever, and so are our problems.

No doubt, bad advice can indeed be intentional and it can ruin your life, but from what I've seen, it usually comes from our friends or family who are quick to give us advice in the aim to help us but without properly understanding our problem first.

When trying to spot if the advice given to you is of any value to you or not, allow yourself to think about the following:

• Good advice takes time and effort, while bad advice is usually instantaneous and formed out of instincts.
• Good advice is given with considerations to your needs and not just the problem itself.
• A good adviser is always a good listener, while a bad adviser sticks to their own philosophies of life.
• A bad adviser usually tries to excessively justify their advice.
• Good advice is a sum of personal experience and learning, while bad advice is usually formed out of a common belief.
• Good advice takes intention and action into consideration, while bad advice looks at just the outcome and the consequence.

There are many other factors that play into this, but these are a few to get your mind to start thinking :)

Continue reading:

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• Be Interested In Other People - The Secret To Building Connection and Compassion
• The Lie We're Told About Passion and Purpose
• 3am Thoughts - A Curious Freewrite about Beauty, The Universe, and Eternity

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