By | BECKY HARLAN | SYLVIE DOUGLIS | ANDEE TAGLE | www.npr.org
Advice is tricky. If it’s unwelcome or poorly timed, it can feel like an ill-fitting sweater — constricting, itchy and unflattering. Even if it’s solid wisdom, maybe it’s just not the right fit or style for the person on the receiving end.
But advice that’s desired — and imparted with empathy, experience and humility? That’s like a favorite pair of jeans you come back to year after year because they make you feel like the best version of yourself.
At Life Kit, we interview a lot of people who give advice for a living. We wondered what pointers they keep on steady rotation. So we asked them: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Here are 10 pieces of well-worn advice from therapists, career coaches, relationship experts and writers. We hope you find something that resonates.
Responses have been edited for length and clarity
1. ‘There’s more than one way to do something’
I remember scrubbing a pan when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old. There was something stuck on the pan that wouldn’t come off, and I just kept scrubbing it. My dad stopped me, grabbed a fork and just scraped it off. And he looked at me and said, “Jody, there’s more than one way to do something.” From that moment on, I’ve been looking at every problem in my life like how can I do this a different way? — Jody Adewale, clinical psychologist
