These People Shared The Best Advice They've Ever Received And It's A Total Game-Changer

“Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.” ― Otto von Bismarck

Good advice is more valuable than gold and if followed, can lead a person to change their life for the better. Hopefully, the advice that was bestowed upon these people from Reddit will inspire you to improve your own life as well as the lives of others.

"Your success in life is largely dependent on how many uncomfortable conversations you're willing to have."

My former boss told me this when I was denied re-enrollment to my university to finish my degree. He encouraged me to take a day off from work, drive down to the university, and negotiate with them in person about the ordeal. Being a very non-confrontational person, I would never have done this on my own. Sure enough, I spoke to the offices about it and I was able to enroll.

"No matter how good or bad things get, they will change."

Told to me by my 10th grade theater teacher. I was in a bad place and he basically mentored me in how to get my shi* together, and that's one bit of wisdom that's really stuck with me.

The idea that change is part of life and the importance of being able to accept change is really important, I think.

Keep moving forward—It sounds a lot like “suck it up”, but it’s not as harsh and it’s a better mantra to live by. It doesn’t mean that we have to ignore our problems, or that we have to live like our past didn’t happen, but (to me) it means that I have to move forwards DESPITE the things that have happened in my past.

The misfortunes, heartbreaks, mistakes, embarrassing moments etc. that I’ve encountered shouldn’t get in the way of the life I want to live. I used to be really hung up over my past mistakes and the things I could’ve done that would’ve significantly changed my path, but I’m learning to accept everything I’ve done day by day. It makes me want to work on being a better person, to forgive myself and the people who have hurt me.

“Don’t worry about controlling your emotions. Control your actions.”

This was from my geometry instructor when I was a sophomore in high school. He was the kind of guy who spent 80% of class time discussing mathematics, and 20% talking about life. He was an excellent teacher, and one hell of a human being.

The goal, I think, of parents in the area where I grew up was a kind of steely-eyed stoicism. Conceal your anger, ignore your lust, show no fear, show no weakness, be strong, strong, strong. Being awash in hormones, I could do none of those things, and I was beating myself up constantly. I think most kids in school were under the same pressure.

His advice hit me right between the eyes. The experience of emotions is outside our control, but our response to them is not. Don’t be ashamed of a feeling, but be ashamed if you act like an ass because of the feeling. That idea changed everything for me. I passed his insight on to my kids, and I still apply it to my own life decades later.

The grass isn't greener on the other side, it's greener where you water it.
Don't spend life daydreaming about "what could be" in a different place or circumstance. Instead, invest your energy in what is right in front of you and see how it can be cultivated into something beautiful.

My Dad: "If you don't like what you're doing, do something else."

He went to McGill after WWII and took Engineering. He graduated and started working construction for a big civil company in Montreal. He met my mother on a construction job in a small town in Ontario.

They married, and the kids started to come along. Construction slowed down, he went to work in mining and stayed there for the rest of his career. He retired early and never worked again, apart from taking up writing. The whole time he had wanted to be a journalist.

I follow his advice. I've quit a job on a Wednesday and started another on a Friday. Late last year, I quit a well paying job and moved to another for about the same pay but with the opportunity to work on technical projects I've been interested in for years.

Life's too short. You spend too much time at work to not be doing something that interests you and that you find rewarding.

Enthusiasm is learned.

Had a big heart to heart with a college professor right before graduating, about how I don't know what I want to do or what my "dream career" is.
Her response: nobody does. Those people who say they do, don't. Find a job, you'll learn you become passionate about it whatever it is you're doing.

Of the three people who graduated that semester with physics degrees, I'm the only one who's ended up with a decent job in my field out of college. I found an imperfect job and learned to be passionate about it. They call me lucky but I know the truth.

Don't spend so much time thinking about what other people think of you (they care more about themselves than you). Spend more time discovering yourself and loving/accepting who you are instead of wasting time doing things to get their approval.

That, and... When you thought that (whatever drama/comment/snarky remark etc) was about you, it wasn't really about you. It was about them.

In exasperation, my mom told me, "When you show up late, it tells people that you think your time is more important than theirs."

I used to be chronically late to nearly everything. And that statement just crushed me because I love my mom and my friends and would never purposely be disrespectful. I had just never looked at it that way before. I'm rarely late anymore and it's been amazing how something so seemly small has improved my relationships and has all around made my life better and less stressful than I could have expected. Wish Mom would have laid into me sooner.

Boyfriend once said to me, in the middle of me calling to ramble on and on about how upset I was over my day:

"Why are you spending time being upset about things that are already over? You can't change the outcome of what happened earlier today. Obsessing about what you wish had happened differently will do nothing for you. Accept it. Leave it alone. Make the rest of your day better."

I swear nothing has ever hit me harder. I haven't spent time being upset over things that are done and over in years.

When I was about 15 I answered an ad in a local paper about an elderly quadriplegic man needing assistance. Private care CNA type stuff. Worked for him for the next 5 or 6 years.

Fred got into a car accident when he was in college (1954 if memory serves correct). Broke his neck, severed his spine. Paralyzed from the neck down.
He said he had two options; sit under the oak tree on his family farm and wait for death, or, make something of himself.

He became a state legislature, inventor, and advocate for the disabled.
He told me a story about how he was going back to school after the accident, how he was struggling. One of his professors told him...

"The only measure of a man that matters is from the eyes up".
Still sticks with me after all these years. The hardships he went through, the struggles he had, the unbridled success he had anyway.

When you have a generous impulse, follow it. If it randomly occurs to you to give money to a homeless guy, or offer to help a friend move, or pay the toll for the person behind you...just do it.

I've noticed that I have thoughts like this all the time, but then I'm talking myself out of it by the next thought. If I keep this advice in mind, then I'm much more likely to go through with it. And performing small acts of kindness makes everybody happy.