Ask HN: What's the single best piece of advice you've ever heard?

I've always liked this quote by Ira Glass

"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through."

I'll paraphrase it because I can't remember how it went. Choose some interest/activity aside from your career and commit to pursue it for the rest of your life. Such a sustained effort will one day prove to be of immense value. If you don't make your choice right now, you never will. I didn't, and I didn't, and at the age of 70 how I wish I had.

I have two:

My mom told me once that I am not responsible for the happiness of others. Prior to that, it was a tremendous burden for me when loved ones were unhappy and I felt like there was nothing I could do.

The other one is "No matter where you go, there you are". My early career was marked by short stints at different companies because I was looking for the perfect work environment. Eventually, I realized that the only constant amongst those places was me. I now fight the urge to escape whenever things aren't going how I want them to because, ultimately, I will still be me wherever I go and it is better to deal with my issues than change the world around me.

Know your audience.

Knowing your audience is critical to communicating effectively and impacts every human interaction you'll have.

Two people with an arbitrary goal having separate conversation with the same person can have vastly different outcomes predicated on how well they know their audience.

Some examples off the top of my head:

1) Teaching a novice; understanding their skill level and learning style to guide how you teach and what you teach.

2) Asking for a favor from a colleague in a different department; understanding their priorities, pressure points, and professional goals to position your request in a way most likely to be accepted.

3) Traffic stop; understanding the LEO's concerns to ensure a smooth stop and preferably a warning for the reason you were pulled over.

4) Giving a presentation; different people care about different things, understanding your audience allows you to choose the messaging that your audience cares about and resonates the most.

Don't believe your thoughts.

Stop calling them "my thoughts" -- observe how they emerge and investigate if you're the one causing them.

Making mistakes is part of human nature. It's best to expect that a lot of things will go wrong, items will be lost, deadlines won't be kept, driving won't be done correctly, your boss won't know that doing $thing will cause $badthings (including annoyed employees), code will be written suboptimally, people will say stuff that hurts other people, people who hurt other people will claim they acted perfectly normally, etc.

Have emergency savings, preferably a bare minimum of 3 months' worth of expenses, available. Depending on your risk tolerance and income stability, 6 or 9 months might be appropriate. It's absolutely amazing the peace of mind and freedom to take risk that having emergency savings can give you.

Go for a run in the morning. Even if you have a crap day, at least you've gone for a run.

It applies to things other than running, too.

"Always try to be the dumbest person in the room."

Surrounding yourself with smart people is the best way to learn and improve.

Want to get something done, do a little bit at a time.

- My grandma... miss you supergran.

Beware charm. Charming, charismatic people can use their charm to mask a multitude of faults and deceptions.

Don't take advice from someone, with whom you don't want to trade places.

Don't be an asshole

Let it not be said you never got what you wanted because you never asked.

I like this quote ( and piece of advice ) :

I would say don’t take advice from people like me who have gotten very lucky. We’re very biased. You know, like Taylor Swift telling you to follow your dreams is like a lottery winner telling you, "Liquidize your assets, buy Powerball tickets, it works!" – Bo Burnham

"I go first" - heard it on a Tim Ferriss podcast.

Be the first to volunteer, to put your hand up with a question, to introduce yourself to others, to open the conversation.

It avoids those awkward moments when a group of people look at their shoes wondering who is going to respond. It also helped me address my general reluctance to be the first responder.

"Don't piss into a power socket"

(in pt): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcI_2zvwejk&list=PL2332BC2EB...

Always ask,"Is there anything else I can do to help?"

Don't just ask once if you can help, everyone else does that. Be the person who asks again and again. People will take notice and tell others. It's the quickest way to new opportunities.

Living well is the best revenge.

Relax and answer will come . If you can not make decision - just stop thinking about it for few days(if it's possible, of course). Answer will come from where you can not expect.

The worst mistake to make is to be afraid to make mistakes.

Few worthwhile efforts are every successful on the first attempt.

Failure is a necessary part of eventual success. It provides improved context and insights. As a young man, I thought that something must be wrong with me because I always failed when I tried something new and so I usually gave up.

Guilt has nothing what-so-ever to do with failure.

Failure is just another useful metric.

Health is a precious resource you don't squander. Lack of it can take down even the richest of men. Steve Jobs.

From the Thief II game:

To use thy chisel is to blunt its edge 'gainst the stone. To not use thy chisel is to waste its edge.

I know it is some drivel invented to stuff out the in-game story, but it stuck. I tend not to use some nice thing as I might break/waste it, so I use this text as an occasional prod that it's fine.

Learn to rest, not to quit.

Keep your. Humility on the way up. Dignity on the way down.

Don't take advice from anyone without skin in the game, for they have no tangible downside to being wrong.

"teach them to ride a bike one at a time"

(as parent of twins trying to be "fair" :)

"apologise early"

Treat people like sovereign nations

what you want to learn has been learned before a thousand times.

never fear walking on a well-worn path.

Do what you love, what you are good at and what people are willing to pay for.

Work hard. Be strong. Don't complain.

Either you earn or you learn

Don't take any advice.

Read the classics!

health is your greatest wealth.

Just let it go.

Smile more. Because it will make you happier and everyone around you happier. Everything will become easier if you smile more.