WHAT was the most important piece of advice you ever received?

[NJmaverick]

Who gave it to you?

[Heidi]

1. Two.

"The only thing you can ever hope to truly control in life is your own reaction." My friend, Ralph, an attorney.

"Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything; that's how the light gets in." Leonard Cohen

Mornin', NJmaverick! :hi:

[NJmaverick]

5. Good morning (or should I say afternoon or evening?) Heidi

those are two good ones.:hi:

[hobbit709]

2. Don't eat the yellow snow-Frank Zappa

[Inchworm]

3. Some peoples does, but some peoples don't

Daughter, age 4-5 when I was probably cussing humans :P

:hi:

[HopeHoops]

4. Put a rubber on it.

My dad.

[Deep13]

6. Don't forget the basics.

one of my law school instructors.

Some bits of advice from my grand father.

-A good physical connection does not necessarily mean a good electrical connection.

-An adhesive is only as good as the surface being glued.

-That's an awful lot of banging for something that is supposed to slid it. (a cotter pin)

[femmocrat]

7. From my Dad:

"If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything."

"You always meet them on a curve." (while hiding under the dashboard, giving his 16-year old driving lessons!)

"If you don't have anything, they can't take it away."

He had a million of them. I miss him.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. What're you doing in the bathroom day and night? Get th'hell out'a there, give someone else a chance

[NJmaverick]

17. hmmm

[Rabrrrrrr]

59. Exactly!!

[Moondog]

9. Two -

From my father - (Academic) degrees are something that you can neither lose nor have taken away from you.

From one of my law school professors - God bless the man who sues my client.

[Moondog]

15. The second

was particularly important as it gave me an insight into a mindset that I really didn't like. Ultimately, but as a result, I went to work for Uncle Sam and represented the federal government throughout my career.

[Arkansas Granny]

10. When my first child was born, my pediatrician told me "You're going to get a lot

of advice from a lot of people. Listen to all of it and then do what feels right for you".

[NJmaverick]

18. That's pretty good and I imagine could be applied to pretty much anything

[Tommy_Carcetti]

11. Don't, don't, don't bite your friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJCh6dB439k

Thank you Mono.

[Robb]

12. "Anger is just another way of being sad."

--- Dadbat. :)

[Ohio Joe]

13. Three from me

From my dad, shortly after we were sent out to do yard work by my mother instead of watching the ball game that was on TV:

"The men rule the world and the women rule the men."

I forget where I saw it... it was a long time ago but, from Joe Haldeman:

"If you're not pissing someone off, your doing something wrong."

From the video game Bubsy:

"What could possibly go wrong?"

[Tuesday Afternoon]

14. 1. Be true to myself. and 2. How to recognize and avoid evil.

[qb]

16. "In order to take care of your kids you have to take care of yourself first."

my therapist

[datasuspect]

19. Don't shit where you eat

dad

[DevonRex]

20. If you tell one other person a secret, it's not a secret anymore.

I gave that advice to myself in the 8th grade after learning the hard way.

[NJmaverick]

21. I didn't learn that until my first job

and it certainly is sound advice.

[DevonRex]

22. I guess it's in our nature to want to confide in people.

But coworkers and classmates can make our lives hell in a split second if it's in their interest to do so.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. "Pay attention to what people do to you, not what they say to you"

:-)

[Xithras]

24. You haven't failed until you give up.

Told to me by my grandfather, as my first business (founded when I was 19) crashed and burned. It was followed by another gem: "Failed is for now, not forever".

Contrast that with a close second, given to me by my dad, "You'll live more spending a bad day in the woods, than you'll live spending a good week in the office".

[PassingFair]

25. From my father, a former Marine Drill Sargeant...

"Question Authority"

and

"NEVER put yourself in a position
where you have no choice but to
follow orders, let no person control
you."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

26. "Wherever you go, we'll be there."

...from a manager in a company I used to work for.

The main reason I went into business for myself, other than being able to pick and choose my clients, was to get away from the day-to-day "agendas" of my co-workers.

I worked for an unbelievably dysfunctional company that will remain nameless (but its parent company is Johnson & Johnson).

My boss was the director of I.T., and when the president left, she thought she was going to be promoted to VP and report directly to the new president.

Instead, she remained director and her new boss became the VP in charge of Facilities and she went fucking BERSERK.

She then proceeded to make everyone's life a living hell over the course of the next six months (and my department had 110 people in it...that's a lot of hell coming from one woman).

So everyone began to jockey for power positions, and just showing up for work in the morning became an unbelievable pain in the ass.

That's when the manager dropped his quote, and he was right. I worked in "cubicle world" for another 12 years or so before starting my own company, and in each place I worked, I could see "separated at birth" twins of every asshole I dealt with in that former company.

Moral of the story: The grass is NEVER greener on the other side of the hill. I can control the "social interaction / inter-office politics" aspect of my job now, but the price I pay is that I am my sales force, and am directly responsible for generating 100% of my paying customers. It's WORTH it...but I know that others in my position would find it "easier" to just show up for work and follow orders.

:toast:

[Betty88]

27. never depend on another to make your living, my mom nt.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

28. "Take life easy, or it will take you."

My freshman homeroom teacher, who wrote this in my yearbook.

I ignored her, of course...

It's been an interesting ride, to say the least.

:P

[proteus_lives]

29. A man only has two things in this world. His word and his balls. Don't break'em for anybody.

-My Dad.

and

"With great power comes great responsibility." Stan "The Man" Lee.

[Joey Liberal]

30. Go west, young man nt

[Kali]

31. not really sure where I got it but I give it now

get a passport and keep it up to date, if/when a travel opportunity comes up TAKE it!

-----------------------
other than that, the golden rule is pretty good

and the old "nobody on their death bed regrets not spending enough time at the office "

[Forkboy]

32. "Learn to cook" from my father.

[1]

33. "never trust a fart"... -grandpa

[Ikonoklast]

34. "Lord loves a workin' man; don't trust whitey; see a doctor and get rid of it. "

[smirkymonkey]

68. ROFL!

One of my all time favorite movies!

[Bertha Venation]

35. That I'm not responsible to how others react to me.

I'm responsible only for being honest. (Not to the exclusion of tact, of course.)

Oh, yeah - who gave it to me? My therapist, over the course of several years.

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

36. "Everybody bets"

on God and his existence. My dad terrorized me with that one. "You can bet on the front nine (this life) or the back nine (the afterlife.)

[TEXASYANKEE]

37. It was either ...

Pay off your credit card (friend); or
If it has tires or testosterone, it will give you trouble (also a friend).

[UrbScotty]

61. Women have small amounts of testosterone

...and yeah, they can be troublesome too! :P

[Tangerine LaBamba]

38. "Just smile and say thank you. That's all

you ever have to do when someone says something nice to you." From Goodwin Watson, the best man at my wedding and a great old friend, who fought HUAC and won, among other things - http://tinyurl.com/lee9ha

"Learn everything you can. The Nazis can take away everything you have, but they can never take away what you have in your head." My uncle Alvin Krienik, a devout Jew.

"Never give anything away for free. No one values what they don't pay for." William C. Cunningham, Jesuit priest and civil rights attorney.

"I ain't no fool and I don't take what I don't want." Lennon and McCartney............................

[NoPasaran]

39. From my Dad: "Like the Queen says, never miss a chance to go to the loo."

[NJmaverick]

74. I tell all new people who volunteer at the squad that same thing

as we never know when we will be busy for hours.

[XemaSab]

40. Make sure you know what you're feeling at all times

A shrink I saw used to ask me, "Were you mad, sad, scared, or glad?"

It's a little trite and a little cliched, but sometimes emotionally checking myself like that comes in handy.... it's not always what you expect it to be.

[NJmaverick]

46. Interesting, I will have to try that

[MajorChode]

41. Life is a shit sandwich. The more bread you have; the less shit you have to eat.

[Wapsie B]

42. There's 3 kinds of people in the world:

Those who know they know, those who know they don't know, and those who don't know they don't know!
Friend from college.

[kwassa]

55. There are 3 kinds of people in this world, those that are good at math, and those that aren't.

[LanternWaste]

43. The more a person advertises how clever they are...

"The more a person advertises how clever they are, the more you should realize they aren't..."
Granddad

"If a preacher is talking politics, walk away. If a politician is talking religion run away.."
Granddad

"It's all imaginary-- religion, philosophy, economics, politics, borders. Almost all of our wars are fought over imaginary stuff..."
Granddad

RIP, Old Man of the C.

[NJmaverick]

45. Your Granddad sounded like a very wise man

[Iggo]

44. Tune It or Die.

My first guitar teacher.

EDIT: He also had the more useful saying "Go HOME and practice." In other words, play some goddam songs. If all you're going to do is practice, then go home. Nobody wants to hear you practice.

[MajorChode]

47. If women don't find you attractive, they should at least find you handy.

Red Green.

[Tikki]

48. Always glance under your vehicle as you approach it...

and once a year check the prongs and settings on your expensive or sentimental jewelry.

1. My Criminal Justice instructor.
2. Lesson learned.


Tikki

[_dynamicdems]

49. If all else fails...

run like hell.

My brother.

[triguy46]

50. Never eat anything bigger than your head.

[mwooldri]

51. Wear sunscreen.

Some record I heard with some guy speaking over some music.

Should have listened to him before I got 2nd degree burns all over my back and arms and chest and ears. Had to take a week off work for that and my skin resembled bubble plastic :(

Yep, that's some good advice there.

Mark.

[SecularMotion]

52. Don't believe what people claim to be on the internet

My dog
;)

[backwoodsbob]

53. stfu and listen to what people are REALLY SAYING

my dad

[JonLP24]

54. Off the top of my head

At a job I had in the winter of 2005 at GFS. A co-worker who was probably in his late 30's and I was 18 going on 19 told me something along the lines of be honest to others and most importantly be honest to yourself, he emphasized brutally honest to yourself.

I can't say I always followed that advice but I remember it because I know how hard it is for people to be honest to themselves in ways that aren't pleseant.

[deucemagnet]

56. Billy was a chemist

Billy is no more
For what he thought was H20
Was H2SO4

[deucemagnet]

62. Wait! I want to change that!

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." -- Confucius

[Pool Hall Ace]

57. My mom gave it to me, but she was quoting Arthur Godfrey.

"For free, take. For buy, waste time."

[underseasurveyor]

58. My Granpa told me.........

Ignore advice that's given and instead trust in your own instincts.

[MichiganVote]

60. Watch what people say, watch what they do--believe what they do

[laylah]

63. Be careful what you wish for,

you may get it. Too bad I didn't listen.

[OwnedByFerrets]

64. Block the DU Lounge

[rurallib]

65. make more money than you spend.

so simple yet so profound.

[velvet]

66. "You don't have to ..."

I was sixteen, we must have been discussing marriage in a general way, as I wasn't pregnant and no-one was trying to marry me, but I remember clearly my mum saying "You don't have to get married if you don't want to." It was news to me, a revelation. She was telling me I could live my life my own way, and I took that very much to heart.

[raccoon]

67. "You can do just about anything if you've got it to do."

My mother said that.

[Critters2]

69. One of my seminary professors said "Never be afraid to say you don't know".

That has served me well through the years.

[dembotoz]

70. Love me, love my kids--from a wise single mother

family units are family units

[hamsterjill]

71. It's better to remain silent and thought a fool,

Than to speak up and remove all doubt. (From a refrigerator magnet)

And from my own father: Never ask someone to do something you aren't willing to do yourself.

[hamsterjill]

72. It's better to remain silent and thought a fool,

Than to speak up and remove all doubt. (From a refrigerator magnet)

And from my own father: Never ask someone to do something you aren't willing to do yourself.

[azmouse]

73. Never play Twister naked.

[NJmaverick]

75. I thought that made the game more fun

[Greyskye]

76. Don't buy anything you don't have the money to pay for. And...

Always treat people the way you would want them to treat you.

Both from my parents.

Be excellent to each other. - Bill & Ted

[TrogL]

77. Everything you think you know is complete shit

One of my University professors.

The course was "sex role stereotypes", the first two weeks were spent on symbolic logic which she then used to demolish everything I thought I knew about everything. She loved messing with the freepers:

Freeper: Women shouldn't be managers.
Prof: Why?
Freeper: Women aren't aggressive enough.
Prof: Managers primary role is to get co-workers to cooperate and do their jobs, right?
Freeper: (confidently) Yes.
Prof: Which is pretty much the same skill set as child-rearing, right?
Freeper: (looking less confident) Errr...yes.
Prof: ...and aggression accomplishes what?
Freeper: (now at a complete loss) I...errr...he...I'll shut up now.