advice is a guide not an answer

2 minute read time

Today’s issue: In this one she claims nobody has the answer to your problems and she uses a micro-arguement over two Twitter entrepreneurs calendars to prove her point.

I heard someone say, "people aren’t willing to look stupid for being wrong.” Maybe that’s (one of many reasons) why we take other peoples advice instead of working to find our solution.

I mean who doesn’t want a nicely wrapped answer without the stress?

So clearly I’ve been thinking a lot about advice and the controversy over what a ‘successful’ business looks like — but more specifically the 2022 debate over Leila Hormozi’s calendar and Justin Welsh’s comment.

To me it’s the perfect example of how opinions can be both wrong and right at the same time.

Business advice didn’t exist for me two years ago. It came when I decided to actively start a business. It is so interesting to me how for every opinion we have there’s an equal and opposite one. How we band into camps based on shared views and point a finger at the other side as being incorrect. How both sides have evidence and proof to support their opinion. How advice becomes a paradox when you receive perfectly good advice, but you can’t apply it to your personal circumstance.

But more importantly how we never ask ourselves, ‘Okay, but what actually works for ME?’

Before Justin Welsh became the solopreneur guy, he worked a corporate job where his calendar gave him anxiety every Sunday. Which makes sense that a clean calendar helps his health.

Whereas Leila once mentioned enjoying talking to clients and her internal team. She doesn’t have to, she chooses to.

These are both choices they made for themselves based on what works best for THEM.

I spent a year in circles following ideas and wound up confused, broke, and questioning my ability to do fuck all. But before that year, I took myself from out of a car to helping small business owners and even a Fortune 5000 CEO — not by other peoples advice but figuring out what worked for me.

All to learn there is no ‘right’ answer. That ‘it depends’ is the best answer you get because it’s unique to your circumstance.

It depends on what your specific levers are.

I’m starting to understand why authors and people say ‘take what you need’ and ‘I won’t promise it will work for you’ in the fine print. Truth is at best it is a guide.

Maybe you are the experiment in-itself.

So this week I learned a simple technique to identify what our blockers about business is in our way of what works for us specifically. Literally writing it down for self-awareness. Here’s three of mine:

• To be successful I need to listen to other people, because my past successes isn't enough.

• I haven’t earned having great people who support me and need to achieve business-wise to be worthy of them.

• The knowledge in my head isn’t enough to share with people who need it so I need to keep it in my notes to never see the light of day.

Still thinking about these answers.

Maybe advice is a paradox when you receive perfectly good advice, but you can’t apply it to your personal circumstance.