Context Makes All The Difference
When generic advice meets specific reality
Oh joy! Successful people on the internet contradicting each other on how to build wealth and find happiness.
Focus on your strengths or work on your weaknesses? Specialise or generalise? Follow your passion or just do what works?
What’s going on?
I think it boils down to two key reasons.
- There are usually multiple ways to achieve similar results.
- There is a serious lack of context for your particular situation.
Let’s digest some disgustingly generic advice.
Work harder — Great when you weren’t trying but useless if you are already maxing out your efforts.
Work smarter — Yes, you can always work smarter but do you know how? What if you have automated, delegated and eliminated as much as you can? Is there someone you can consult?
Relax — Oh boy, what if you haven’t even started? Actually, that probably still helps.
That’s the problem with generic advice. No context.
But this is where you come in.
Try It Before You Buy It
The power in generic advice is your ability to apply it to your specific reality.
Adopt a try before you buy mentality when it comes to advice like this.
Make sure to Marie Kondo the crap out of it. If you don’t love it and it doesn’t provide any utility or form of joy, move on.
It’s important to note that there are things you won’t see. No matter how hard you work or how much you think you understand something by yourself, a little bit of guidance will help you leaps and bounds.
Often we make mistakes we don’t even notice.
You might think that you aced that interview. You gave great answers to all the questions but you didn’t get the job. You ask for feedback and they tell you that you did a great job but they found someone else that was a “better fit”.
The real reason? You might think it was a technical question you got wrong. It might have been. But maybe you didn’t dress professionally, maybe you cursed when you shouldn’t have, maybe you were picking your nose as you were thinking! Who knows?
You don’t see what you don’t see.
Get an Honest Mentor, Friend or Colleague
If you lack experience and the knowledge of when to apply certain advice, you will encounter problems. Sometimes, you’ll want a second opinion.
Find someone that you trust and respect on the subject matter to give you bespoke advice on your specific circumstances.
It’s ideal to find someone that has been in your situation before. At work, this can be someone slightly above your position or someone who is even more experienced than that.
In my previous work, I was fortunate to have a mentor assigned to me. They were helpful in more ways than I imagined. They helped me on the obvious technical aspects of the job.
More importantly, they taught me how to manage the expectation of others and cultivate a desirable work/life balance. They helped me see things I otherwise wouldn’t have seen or even looked for.
A good mentor can anticipate the problems you face. They will give you specific advice to deal with problems and they will help shorten your learning curve immensely.