What Advice Has Really Stuck With You

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In the early 70's I had the first full out glam rock band, New York Dolls on steroids , in the Southeast. We had a residency in Fayetteville NC and did so much business every night we never had to tour although we were inundated with offers. We weren't that good. My next band was a prog rock outfit that opened our sets with Yes tunes and was composed of VERY talented musicians and no one wanted to know. We had to tour Canada 3 months at a time to make a living. (not like that wasn't a lot of fun) The owner of the club took me aside and told me something I never forgot. He said "Steve, stop trying to be so smart. the smart ones are at the library." I never forgot that sage advice. I've spent my entire life keeping it simple and it's worked for me. I can read on my off time. Laughing

What advice have you received along the way that has stuck with you and really influenced you?

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Type: Question • Score: 27 • Views: 4,130 • Replies: 46

Many, many years ago, there was one of those phony teevee spectacles in which they honored Alfred Hitchcock. At one point, of course, they had to get the old boy up to the podium for some words of wisdom. He made his predictable remarks, and then said that when he was young man starting out in the movie business in England, his producer gave him the best advice he'd ever gotten:

Stay out of jail.

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Always good advice and it was touch and go for me a couple of times. I dabbled in the import business, if you take my meaning, back in the day and realized quickly that was dumb beyond reason. Against my advice my two roommates and buddies got more and more involved. One got 40 years for trafficking and the other actually got decapitated south of the border in a business transaction gone bad. There but for the grace of God (and common sense)......

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The best advice I ever got was intended to be parenting advice but it applies equally to adults.

Always speak to someone as if there's a guest in the room.

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I was once in the import business. We would pick up our "widgets" in Charlotte, and drive them back to Virginia. One weekend in Charlotte, my buddy and i hooked up, and someone else took the "widgets" back to Virginia. When we got home Monday night, we found that the police had raided our farmhouse, but didn't find what they were looking for. That not only told us how stupid the entire operation was (we were so fond of "widgets," that we weren't making that much money anyway), but that also told us that one of our close associates was a rat.

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@Setanta,

It's not a business where most participants are of the highest ethical standards re: loyalty. Sort of like the music business. Laughing

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Best advice I got: You cannot change people! You only can change yourself and either accept that person or leave.

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From my father:

God gave everyone their own brain for a reason. If He'd wanted one person to do all the thinking, he would've just given that person a brain. Think for yourself.

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I was a young associate given the task of evaluating a new file and reporting back to the partner. I started by telling him all of the potential problems that we would face when he stopped me. "Don't tell me how we could lose," he said, "tell me how we're going to win." Best advice I ever received about the practice of law.

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When I became a flight leader in my first squadron as a young Lieutenant the C.O. cautioned me with some advice that proved to be of lasting importance; "the guy who argues with you when you are screwing up is not your enemy; and the who keeps quiet is not your friend."

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If ya don't really wanna know the answer,
don't ask the question.

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@George,

"Don't pull it about too much, you'll make it sore"

It's a maxim to live by.

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@iamsam82,

"Constipation is better than a prolapse."

Again, vital that all should consider this.

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@blueveinedthrobber,

Look out.

Mary I love you, Sandra I love you.

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Many years ago I played a little slow pitch softball on a Co-rec team where I worked. One particular evening I wasn't playing well, bobbling the ball, bad throws, one of the older female teammates hollered from the infield, after another error, "TAKE CHARGE WAYNE".
Those words sunk in and I've recalled them in many situations ever since.

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@joefromchicago,

particularly excellent.

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these are all great answers and thanks for participating. I find it especially interesting that the best advice we get, the advice that sticks with us, is not learned at the feet of some professed great teacher, but often just blurted out at a particular moment when it doesn't seem like much. WHEN we get advice that sticks is interesting and comes on it's own schedule. . "When the student is ready the teacher appears. " Anyway, thanks for these great answers.

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Mind your own business. Great advice. I sometimes ask myself whether something is my business. If I gotta ask, it usually isn't. I back away.

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@Roberta,

Roberta, I've been thinking about you response off and on for a long while.

How does one determine if something is really none of their business?

Is it looking at in the immediate short term? Is it to avoid doing something unpleasant at that moment, not wanting to get involved? Is it turning a blind eye to something that has no impact on you, or those immediately close to you, at that instant?

How far does a person look in the future, in the ripples caused by saying something is not my business?

Is it not someone's business if taking action does not mean something changes immediately?

Is is not your business because someone else told you it's not?

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@chai2,

Some of the worst things that have happened in my life , ALL of the worst things that happened in my early life, occured because various people said "it's none of my business"

Some of those people lives were impacted in a negative way by what I ended up being today.

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What Advice Has Really Stuck With You

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