
I remember when Jagged Little Pill came out when I was a teenager. Alanis Morrisette singing "It's the good advice that you just didn't take". There is always that eternal question "Do I go with my gut, or do I follow their advice?". Going into new situations we all carry with us preconceived notions and basic strategies. Wisdom suggests that there is a time to stick to the plan, but you also must be willing to discard that plan and go with the flow.
In fantasy baseball this week I saw evidence of this. My benevolent father and big brother showered me with advice. They could see that my team was floundering and they wanted to help. I humbly instituted their ideas, ignoring my own. Right away I was fifteen points further in the hole than I would have been if I had stuck to my guns. So how do you know? In this scenario they had the on-field knowledge of the players and their statistics. What do I know? I had just lost the first three games of the season after all.
I recently started a new job. I was full of confidence in my abilities. I have run my own catering business. I have formal culinary training in cooking and restaurant management. And yet, here was a new company, and a new set of parameters to work in. So how do you know? When do you abandon your original strategy for success? Clearly I need to listen to the experienced people who surround me and have already learned the ropes, but to what extent?
The marriage advice flows like milk and honey when you near the promised lands, and when Diana and I got married the advice flooded in from all over. Before we were married someone said that they thought we should try living together first. Then there were lots of suggestions on how to get through the terrible first six months, then the first year, then the first five years (none of which were terrible for us).
Nothing elicits advice like having kids does. Do you want a closer bond between you and all the familial relations that you assumed were dead long ago? Have a couple babies. We were blessed with boundless advice from- "Put a little rice cereal in her bottle" to- "You have to pick your battles".
Advice is a fickle friend, no doubt. It seems to help and harm in equal portions. Listening to good natured advice rarely hurts. We all have to draw our own line in the sand as to when listening turns to implementing those pearls of wisdom. We would be remiss to never translate some of their advice into reality in an attempt to make our lives better in some way, and we would be fools if we didn't let a large part of it go in one ear and out the other.
- Posted from my iPhone