Everyone’s got an opinion and people love to dole out their best advice. From your mom to the Facebook “friend” you haven’t spoken to in years, everyone has advice about your career.
How do you know when to take career advice? Well, that’s a complex matter and I don’t want to be one more person giving you advice. Okay, maybe I do. But before I get to my advice to you I want to share something I recently learned about when to take advice.
I’ve been working with a business coach the last 6 months and she recently gave me some advice. Or coaching. Call it what you will.
She gave me this advice about my business and my initial response was a big bucket of nope. I felt a strong resistance to her insight. For 3 weeks I pouted. For 3 weeks I complained. For 3 weeks I resisted. I was sure she wasn’t right about the advice she gave me.
Then I had an insight of my own.
My strong resistance wasn’t a sign she was wrong, it was a sign I was wrong.
Errr……
I realized that when someone gives me bad advice, I feel calm. When someone gives me advice that doesn’t resonate with me, I disagree without conflict. When someone gives me good advice I may feel the truth of it right away or I might feel resistant.
My resistance is a sign that maybe, just maybe, someone gave me advice worth considering.
Now I’m going to give you some advice. When you notice yourself resisting advice, take some time to carefully consider this advice. I’ll even share some questions to help you explore advice that brings up resistance.
5 Questions to know when take career advice
01. Does the advice come from someone you trust?
02. Does the advice come from someone with knowledge of your business, industry, or occupation?
03. Is the advice-giver successful in her career?
04. How do you feel in response to the advice? Why do you feel that way?
05. What fears come up related to the advice? Are you making a fear-based decision?
Sit with these questions. Explore your responses. Don’t be afraid to take advice that scares you just because it scares you. The only outcome with guaranteed results is doing the same thing you’ve always done (hint: you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.)
Now, let’s have some fun! What’s the best career advice you resisted? Share in the comments and sign up for my biweekly newsletter for career advice right to your inbox!
[mc4wp_form]