Best Piece Of Advice Ever Given

After my evening at the Hearst Editors Talk, I have changed a few things. The advice given by Sarah Bailey, Editor at Red Magazine, of ‘Take the meeting’ has led to some interesting situations for me and www.anessexwife.com.

Through saying yes, not hesitating around the whens and whys, I have landed in the middle of a pile of real paid work, sat on an AVG discussion panel surrounding child safety online and networked with the best of them at some very swanky events. Real paid work, people wanting to hear my views and being treating as a voice in the industry worth listening to. All because I said yes to the meeting. It was advice worth taking.

It got me thinking, what is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

The best piece of advice ever given to me, aside from Sarah saying ‘take the meeting’, were the wise insightful words of my boss when I first started out in my teaching career.

It won’t always be this way

The words washed over me at first. He was addressing my annoyance of working so hard but others getting all the credit. I was the new girl, and in the male-dominated world of sport this was just the way it had to be. ‘Be strong, stand your ground, and in time your will get the recognition you deserve’ he would say. He was right, it worked and I flourished.

Those few words though, have come back into my thoughts many time over the years.

Be grateful for what you have when things are good, they could change in a heartbeat.

When things are tough, if you keep going, keep fighting, keep believing they can only get better.

After all, It won’t always be this way.

What a wise man he was.

It’s not just me that finds simple advice the most profound. Haydn, from the wonderful squibbvicious.com, says that the best piece of advice ever given to her was from her Father, and it wasn’t something she really ‘got’ straight way either

‘Make the most out of your education’ he would tell me when I’d moan about school or homework.  I never took it too seriously, thinking school wasn’t too much fun and wouldn’t really affect my future!  I’d always wanted to go to College and Uni, and I think was partly due to Dad hounding on about my eduction.  He left school at a very age, and wanted me to excel in my career and not take after him!  After attending Uni I finally see that Dad was right, if I hadn’t made the most out of my education I wouldn’t have the great job that I do today!  Thanks Papa Squibb!

So maybe despite all the wide words out there, all the great novels and all the insightful thinkers, sometimes it can be the little things that mean that most. Those can be the words that live with us for a lifetime and really change the way we see the world.

All I know is that no matter where my life takes me, what success I may have or difficulties I may face, those words will always be there willing me on.

Making me grateful, making me determined, and making me, me.