I often get asked, ‘What’s the one piece of advice you would give me?’ My answer is simple: Don’t take advice from anyone. If that advice works, you’ll become dependent on others for your decisions. Making wrong decisions builds your ability to make the right ones.
The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.
Those mistakes sharpen their intuition and gut feeling, teaching them how to make right decisions. It’s these right decisions, along with learning to fix mistakes, that lead to success. This is crucial. They no longer fear mistakes because they trust their ability to correct them. This freedom to make mistakes gives them an extra advantage — the freedom to grow.
Two types of people grow significantly:
- Those with little to lose, who know that making mistakes won’t cause much harm, so they take the risk.
- Those who have made so many mistakes that they’re no longer afraid because they’re confident they can fix them.
The third point is that if someone else’s advice doesn’t work, they rarely take the blame. Even if they do, they’ll likely offer another useless piece of advice rather than help you fix the mistake. As a result, you might remain in a victim mindset, avoiding responsibility by thinking, “I did it because they told me to,” which feels safe and comfortable but is disastrous for your success.
In short, if you take advices from others, you’ll lose:
- The skill to make decisions and develop a gut feeling for what’s right.
- The confidence to fix your mistakes.
- The freedom to take control of your own life.
