Never stretch the Wisdom

Advice is not math. 1+2 and 2+1 give the same answer in math.
However, in the advice/wisdom world it’s all contextual. Based on the context, you need to be able to figure out what is the best advice to apply for a situation.

Most of this advice, has come from great men and women’s wisdom that came from their life experience and values.

These people are warriors and philosophers, They had their life experience. And then they gave their wisdom out into the world as advice.

Let’s just talk about an example!

One of the warriors said, as an example,

And then what happens is a bunch of fake gurus or motivational speakers or influencers who want to be famous without doing anything came in, took this advice without context and importantly without any internalised experience; stretched it out as much as they can.
So they make it sounds like failing is a good thing and gloriy failure to a point where people want to wear failure as a badge of honour. Stretch it until the original advice loose all meaning.

Check out these two articles from the same and well-respected organization Forbes about the above quote: ‘fail fast fail forward’

Obviously, they were written by different authors but you get the point.

The cool thing about this is that both of these articles have a point in the context. However, you won’t be reading all the articles on the earth. You’ll only read a few and your mental model of that advice will be influenced by that particular article you read. Then if you apply that advice out of context thinking it’s good general advice; you’ll most probably end up making the wrong decision. Especially if you use the version that is stretched out by wannabe influencers.

This is why advice should just be small mental hooks but nothing more. We keep them in our heads but should not give them great significance. In most things, you do know the right thing to do without all this advice. Therefore based on the context you can decide to apply ‘fail fast fail forward’ or just abandon it.

This particular skill has utmost significance in our life as it’s basically the skill of critical thinking. Advice gives us a pathway to the minds of great men and women who climbed these mountains before we did. However, your journey is unique. Appreciate the advice and apply your critical thinking. Use the advice in decision-making if the context is right. Otherwise, do what you know is right.

In a scenario where you know what you are selling is not right for a particular customer do the right thing. Ignore the above advice and honestly tell the client your product is not the right product for them.

However, in a context where you feel like this is a great customer for what you are selling, shamelessly apply the advice. Don’t drag the conversation unnecessarily. Close the sale soon because you can help that customer.

Example: Don’t try to sell winter jackets to customer A. But Always be closing customer B.

Now I understand the irony of this article as well. What the hell do I know. Think critically about everything I wrote here as well. Do what is right for you.

Your parents, teachers, friends, family, society and media gives you advice all the time. Most of the time they are well intended. However, know that

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