I had lunch with a mentor of mine last week and his answer was to know thyself. What he means by that has a dual meaning.
The importance of having self-awareness – what you are good at, not good at, could be better at, etc. Equally important is not seeing yourself in one role or as one persona.
It’s deep thinking, yet insightful.
My wife says the best advice she ever received was to take the time and sleep on it, before making any big decisions or reacting to unexpected challenges. That’s a good one, too!
My mum’s best advice was to keep a career and skill because even if you get married and have kids you never know what might happen in life – it’s good to have something to fall back on.
Her mum gave her that advice because she hadn’t not managed to do so and fell on tough times in when my grandpa (whom I never met) passed away young.
A friend of mine reckons the best advice he ever received was the treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself. I remember that one being taught at Sunday School back in the day. You’ll never go too far wrong in life with that approach.
I’ve canvassed a cross-section of those close to me with this question. It’s a good one to ask those you admire in life, you might just learn something new.
I think the best advice I ever received was that everything good in life comes from compounding investment.
OK, I know that compound growth is a financial term and one I think has the biggest impact on financial success. But it’s much more than that.
Our relationships are the product of compounding investment. The longer you have known someone, the more quality time you spend with someone, the stronger those relationships become.
Our health is the product of compounding investment. The longer you have held a good diet or consistent exercise regime, the healthier you become. The opposite is true too – we can’t change our diet and expect a noticeable difference in one week!
It probably took me a decade to see the power of this piece of advice. That’s the thing about a compounding investment; the longer you do it, the more obvious its benefit becomes.
I understand that it can be hard to grasp until you see it in action and realise the benefits.
Asking for advice is one of the most effective habits we can adopt.
Heeding that advice even more so; that’s the bit that not everyone gets right (myself included from time to time).
So, if you do one thing today, perhaps take a few minutes to contemplate the best advice you’ve ever had? Perhaps some of the above will resonate.
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