What Does It Mean to Give Advice? Trust, Responsibility and Putting Them First

What does it mean to give advice? It is very easy to give your two cents to any question someone has. But have you thought about what it means when someone has come to you for advice?

What it means when someone asks you

1. Trust. There is some element of trust in being asked for your opinion. The person expects you to advise in a way that helps them.
2. Value. Generally, people ask advice from those they care about or listen to.
3. A need for guidance. The person is lost, confused or stuck, and has got to the point of coming to you to see what you have to say.

What it means for the person giving advice

1. Responsibility. You are given the burden of helping someone based on your experiences.
2. It is about them, not you. This is a big challenge. As human beings, we are always doing things with some interest for ourselves in mind, and it is very difficult to forget “what do I get out of this?” You can imagine that even people who volunteer sometimes have different intentions, such as showing off or social media.

You can always mention that it will affect you this way or that way. One counterargument is that the person can take or leave your opinion with a pinch of salt, and does not have to accept everything blindly.

Tldr: giving advice isn’t just blabbing the first thing that comes to mind. When giving advice, look out for the interests of the person asking, or keep quiet.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and let me know whether you agree with my thinking, or have another way of seeing things. Have a good weekend.