The way I heard it, and it changed my life, was “All advice is autobiographical.” You have to filter it through your opinion of the person, how self aware they are, and how much you think they’re sincerely trying to think of you when giving advice.
Edit: And, yes, every time I see this discussed there are droves of snarky people thinking they’re being so clever by pointing out the “irony” which I think is really just reflecting their cynicism. Social skills require nuance and understanding that no rule can be applied 100%.
“Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth” -Baz Luhrmann
It’s hard to know who exactly to attribute the quote to, but it’s based on this, song? Speech? Something. If you haven’t heard it before, I highly, highly recommend giving it a listen, especially if you are younger. It’s sonething I think everyone deserves to hear before they make their way in the world, and still offers good advice if you’re already in it but feeling lost.
“Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” is a 1999 spoken-word hit by Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, featuring Lee Perry reciting life advice over a remixed track. Based on a 1997 Chicago Tribune column by Mary Schmich, the song offers nostalgic, philosophical advice on life, aging, and happiness, famously advising to always wear sunscreen.
It can be hard to discern what is good or bad advise, especially if you are less experienced, young, and also if the advise came from an authority figure in your life, such as a parent as mentioned in the post. Yes, I am speaking from experience, my parents gave extremely bad advise when I was growing up. How was I supposed to know they’re bad advise to begin with? I was too young to know they’re practically bad until I followed and it put me in trouble. And now as an adult and gained my own experience after countering what they say, it was only then I realised their insistent advise (read: instructions) are projections of their own insecurities and unresolved trauma. I have a schadenfreude now that they regret how they parented. I don’t exactly blame my parents, they grew up in an authoritarian culture where absolute obedience and conformity are paramount. But even so, I am wary if I get kids someday and let my parents babysit them. I don’t know what kind of nonsense they’ll say and teach to the kids, especially that my mom is superstitious.
The problem is that successful people can also give bad advice.
A common one is the Boomer advice of walking into a place, asking to see a manager, and talking with them about getting a job. That strategy might have worked in the 80’s, but it doesn’t work today.
Now that you mentioned it, my mom gives good advise to other people and I was thinking “why don’t you give the same to us?” I kinda realise maybe it’s easier to provide good advise to others as an independent observer, if you don’t have as much personal and emotional attachment to the person.
Rereading the post, it isn’t that you should ignore the advice of people who failed, but you need to recognize what kind of “advice” you’re getting.
Someone can fail and give you good advice, but the advice described isn’t that.
The way I heard it, and it changed my life, was “All advice is autobiographical.” You have to filter it through your opinion of the person, how self aware they are, and how much you think they’re sincerely trying to think of you when giving advice.
Edit: And, yes, every time I see this discussed there are droves of snarky people thinking they’re being so clever by pointing out the “irony” which I think is really just reflecting their cynicism. Social skills require nuance and understanding that no rule can be applied 100%.
This is the correct interpretation. The post is wrong in how you should view that information. The post is actually a tad cynical and arrogant.
“Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth” -Baz Luhrmann
Despite randomly saying “Baz Lurhmann” like a vocal tic, I have no idea who he is. I’ve looked it up multiple times.
Guy drops a mean quote tho.
It’s hard to know who exactly to attribute the quote to, but it’s based on this, song? Speech? Something. If you haven’t heard it before, I highly, highly recommend giving it a listen, especially if you are younger. It’s sonething I think everyone deserves to hear before they make their way in the world, and still offers good advice if you’re already in it but feeling lost.
“Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” is a 1999 spoken-word hit by Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, featuring Lee Perry reciting life advice over a remixed track. Based on a 1997 Chicago Tribune column by Mary Schmich, the song offers nostalgic, philosophical advice on life, aging, and happiness, famously advising to always wear sunscreen.
So many of the other heavily upvoted comments are taking the absolutely least charitable interpretation of the comment.
It can be hard to discern what is good or bad advise, especially if you are less experienced, young, and also if the advise came from an authority figure in your life, such as a parent as mentioned in the post. Yes, I am speaking from experience, my parents gave extremely bad advise when I was growing up. How was I supposed to know they’re bad advise to begin with? I was too young to know they’re practically bad until I followed and it put me in trouble. And now as an adult and gained my own experience after countering what they say, it was only then I realised their insistent advise (read: instructions) are projections of their own insecurities and unresolved trauma. I have a schadenfreude now that they regret how they parented. I don’t exactly blame my parents, they grew up in an authoritarian culture where absolute obedience and conformity are paramount. But even so, I am wary if I get kids someday and let my parents babysit them. I don’t know what kind of nonsense they’ll say and teach to the kids, especially that my mom is superstitious.
The problem is that successful people can also give bad advice.
A common one is the Boomer advice of walking into a place, asking to see a manager, and talking with them about getting a job. That strategy might have worked in the 80’s, but it doesn’t work today.
Now that you mentioned it, my mom gives good advise to other people and I was thinking “why don’t you give the same to us?” I kinda realise maybe it’s easier to provide good advise to others as an independent observer, if you don’t have as much personal and emotional attachment to the person.