A Thought Piece

Something I have noticed within today’s society is a lack of motivation and productivity. The other problem is a rising trend of wanting to be better; going to the gym, eating better, making more money, etc. That’s all fine and dandy, except you can’t have one without the other. People can’t constantly have this want of being physically fit, a great diet, and a ton of money while at the same time doing nothing about it. So to combat this, instead of going to the gym, eating better, or trying to make more money; they do everything but those. While others commit action, others dream of the action. This is due to a fear of commitment which could be for a plethora of reasons. This is where I believe “Random Applicable Advice” or “RAA” comes in. Whilst scrolling on instagram or watching TV, someone who has what they want (i.e. better body, more money, etc), comes to give advice. When all else fails, people will motivate themselves with advice from people that have “made it” in hopes the same will apply in their lives. However, the most important part of understanding other people is that our minds all work in different ways. Everyone on earth has a different mindset, upbringing, bodies, and overall different lives. This makes it near impossible to give out one perfect piece of advice to everyone who needs it. Until now. Or at least what I think gets closest to it. I think the most perfect piece of advice you could give to someone is this: “understanding how you and your mind work as well as how you react to situations is key to getting through life.”
The reason I chose to write about it was because there are so many times in my life I have seen a book or video titled something along the lines of “This will change your life!” and I chose to watch or read it. The author shares some good advice or maybe some subpar advice, and then it is up to you to make action. Great, now we’re back at square one. Self action. You have all the advice and all the tools you could need, but nothing. You still have no motivation, no drive, and no idea what you’re doing. You know what you do know though? You. You know why you aren’t acting on your intentions; you know why you are demotivated; you know how your brain picks and chooses information. I’m not saying you know how your brain works like a neurosurgeon, I’m saying how you as a person works. This is how ideas become reality. You can listen to as much David Gogins as you want and watch as much Tony Robbins as you please in hopes of improvement, but you can’t expect change off of no action. The problem is that a lot of people don’t know how to make that next step, even after the advice has been handed to them. I believe that it is due to the fact that people are in their own heads too much causing them to overthink the advice or act indifferently. This is where knowing yourself comes in. You cannot blindly take advice from people who have lived a different life than you and expect it to work. Your job is to take their advice, process into your own understanding, and act on it how YOU know YOU would.
Now that we understand the basis of how to take advice, I’d like to give an example. Let’s use one of the biggest enemies to personal prosperity: procrastination. Let’s say that you have a massive paper to do, but you can’t stop scrolling on social media before and during your work. So you look up a video on how to stop procrastinating. First thing it tells you to do is eliminate distractions, so you delete your social media for the time being. You now find yourself staring at your screen, with no energy to get it done. You’re now lost because you did as it said, but you still don’t find yourself working. So, you insert your own understanding of the advice. In this case, a smart thing to change it to would be “eliminate distractions while working, and take breaks to scroll social media”. Now, you have something to work towards besides the deadline, you’re not overbearing yourself with work, and you can still scroll social media. Would deleting social media and all other distractions work? Of course it would; if that’s the person you are. See, the objective isn’t to follow advice to a tee; the objective is to use the advice to your own understanding to complete a task.
While taking advice into your own understanding, it is important to mention these disclaimers. When I say use advice to your understanding, I’m not saying cut corners and do whatever you want. The point of taking advice into your own understanding isn’t to make a task less challenging, it’s to make it manageable. In life you are supposed to do hard things, that’s what makes us who we are today. However, if you are able to manage those hard things, it takes away unnecessary things that follow: depression, stress, anxiety, and whatever else comes from overbearing yourself. I’m also not saying to take every piece of advice you hear and shift it to whatever you want. The advice should be helping you complete the task, not feed into your desires. For example if you are overworking yourself and someone says set boundaries and get better sleep, that’s not your free pass to avoid your work all week and sleep till noon. Instead it should be setting up time blocks to work and planning a solid sleep schedule for yourself. Finally as a smaller side note that applies to every area of life, your actions should not harm other people physically and mentally. Whatever advice you take and alter, it should not be altered to hurt another human nor be damaging to your environment. Advice is usually meant so that you can prosper within your life, not to destroy it.
What prompted me to write on this topic is based on personal experience. As much as I see other people misuse advice, I see it the most in myself. I never act on it, I give up too quickly, and I’m easily distracted. I have just started to use my own little cheat code on advice and I can already see improvement in my life. When you are able to hear advice and ideas from a perspective you are familiar with, it can really change your way of life. I am not perfect, and I hate to break it to the reader, but you aren’t either (you knew that). I am still learning my own method of advice, and I’m not the best at it. Even if you have already been taking advice in your own way and this paper was a massive waste of time for you, I hope it served as a reminder to focus on prosperity and continue to use advice in the best way you can.