The Ego of Giving Advice

“Opinions are like nails: once hammered in, they are difficult to remove, and if someone can remove it, there’s still a hole.”

Have you ever thought about how much of someone’s story you actually know? 

Think about it from a Forum perspective…

  • A monthly update is typically 3-4 minutes of sharing per person
  • The needs and leads section is 2-3 minutes of sharing per person
  • The deep dive is usually 20-30 minutes of sharing

If you added up all those times, you would hear around 30-40 minutes of someone’s story. However, the person isn’t hounding on one topic the whole time as they usually cover several topics. That means we only hear a tiny fraction of the iceberg for one specific topic. 

So what makes you then think that you have the perfect advice to give them that will solve all their problems?

Sure, it happens, but without knowing the whole story, our advice is more of a shot in the dark than a direct bullseye. 

So my question to you is, how big is your ego that you think that after hearing only 30-40 minutes of someone’s story, you know what they should/shouldn’t do?

Forums are an ego-less place.

For the giver, that means we share our own experiences and never tell someone what they should or shouldn’t do. 

For the receiver, that means we have a growth mindset and are open to hearing the experiences of others.

Let go of your ego, drop the hammer, and don’t nail the nail. Instead, focus on sharing experiences from your own life related to the topic, or be humble enough to say you don’t know.

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