Editor’s Note: Today’s article is a guest post by John Anyasor. Thanks John! I’ve received many emails from concerned readers (thank you!) about my lack of posts and just thought I’d post a note. As a postgraduate psychology student, there is an insane amount of competition and effort to further get into a PhD program, and this year is pivotal, which is why I’ve just been very busy and exhausted (since I also work and have other commitments). I’m doing fine, though, so thank you for your well wishes! To cover up for this a few fellow bloggers have kindly offered to provide some guest posts for the next couple months. I’ll keep writing, but it will be a little bit less frequent – I have a feeling that the next few posts will be how to deal with stress, I’ve learnt a lot about that past few weeks.

The Definitive Guide to Getting the Most Out of Any Advice

For those of you that read blogs in order to support the work of countless artists across the web, I thank you. You’ve shown that people’s thoughts are worth listening to — that we don’t have to ask permission to let our creativity be spread far and wide.

I understand that you love reading about new tips, tricks, and advice on how to do “this’ or how to conquer ‘that’… but are you really using any of it, I wonder?

I love reading about these topics as much as the next guy, believe me, but there comes a time when we must ask ourselves, “Am I really gaining anything from reading these articles? Or hearing this man/woman preach about what he/she knows? Am I just feeding into some fantasy by reading about it?”

Is just knowing a solution exists enough for you?

I know that there are great many of you who come here and have read every word on this blog, but haven’t practiced every word. And to be honest, I think it’s unfair.

It’s not fair to you and it’s not fair to the guy who writes this blog. Now you may think I’m accusing you.

I’m not.

I simply want everyone to have improved their lives (at least a bit) after coming away from this blog. I want that after the final word is read at the end of this post, everyone can safely say:

“You know, I never thought about this before. Maybe there are some things that can be done to improve/change/create a certain aspect of my lifestyle in order to increase the happiness of myself and those around me.”

Nothing is more unfortunate than wasting your time with things that aren’t helping you.

Right before we get started, I want you to keep in mind that nearly anything you want to achieve is within your grasp. If you have the knowledge, all you have to do is back it up with action and what you seek will eventually come.

First things first:

1. Find just ONE special piece of advice

You have to discover the “perfect” piece of advice. This advice resonates with you, makes sense, doesn’t sound fabricated AT ALL… but it still makes you feel uneasy. In other words, you know it works, but you just don’t have the guts to test it.

For example, let’s say that you have a habit of opening new tabs on your internet browser every five minutes (a former issue of mine that I can attest to). This problem has gotten much worse; sometimes you have ten tabs open at once.

Suddenly, you happen upon priceless advice from a blog — just don’t open more than one tab per window. You’re better off focusing on one tab, rather than dividing up your attention across multiple distractions.

To you, it’s not much of a shocking revelation. “Well, duh”, you think to yourself. “So simple, but it makes so much sense. This really is just good advice.” With that, you close all of your tabs except one.

Lo and behold, five minutes later, you find yourself with ten tabs open again.

As you can see, the advice was sound. The benefits and the costs were clearly presented. And yet, you just couldn’t follow the advice.

At once, you decide that this advice was all wrong. “Forget it”, you say. “This guy didn’t help me at all.”
Frustrated that your problem keeps persisting, you head on over to Google, and look up plenty of ways to be productive on the Internet. Add-ons, tricks, tips, techniques; now you’ve got them all.

But then, without you even realizing it, you’ve just perpetuated the problem. Some might even say that you’ve duplicated it. You see, your multiple tabs are now filled to the brim with countless productivity blogs, all trying to teach the one thing that you needed the most — the one thing that you already knew.

Do one thing at a time.

So now it’s your turn. We all know what we have to do — we all know that there’s the “perfect” solution lingering in the back of our brains that has yet to be tested.

But we also have to force ourselves to believe that we want to do it — that we want to change and improve our lives.

2. Test it as soon as possible

There’s no point letting the hesitation accumulate and the anticipation build. Just do it, NOW.

Set a date – The date you end up setting has to be sooner rather than later. Everyone deludes themselves into thinking that he has all the time in the world to test his advice.

Well, the truth is that you don’t have time. You’ll never know what will happen in the future, but you DO know (for the most part) what will happen by the end of this week, next week, or even next month. Set your date within this time frame.

Put your action date too far in advance and you may never do it.

Think presently – Everyone’s minds tend to be too far in the future, even before we’ve carried out the action. Thinking up realistic results, bringing about possible mistakes, and dissecting every single scenario — don’t give yourself that much credit.

You aren’t allowed to.

Act now and think later, then give yourself the credit you deserve by thinking about what you’ve done all you want, whether you failed or succeeded.

3. Write down the results

For some, this may seem unnecessary, but when testing advice, it’s important to reflect on it. This is when your analysis of the consequences should come into play — not before you’ve carried out the action, but after.

It’s true that you learn by doing, but you gain a much deeper understanding when you add introspection to the mix. Analyze the negative and positive consequences, ask the why’s and the how’s (why did this happen and how did this work), or plan your next test in order to see what else you can decipher.

It’s no longer somebody else’s advice.

Now that you’ve tested, recorded, and analyzed the perfect advice, you are no longer someone who just parrots what he doesn’t know. This isn’t some blogger’s advice or a random guru’s advice — it’s your own advice.

Feel free to share it with anyone you know. Because you know, deep down inside, that getting the most out of advice isn’t just about getting positive results or feeling good simply knowing that there’s a solution.

It’s about learning and growing, changing and improving — and helping someone else to experience the same joy you do when you test advice that works.

About The Author

John Anyasor is the creator of HiLife2B, a blog inspiring others beyond their perspectives. Follow him on Twitter.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/CJAnyasor
Website: http://hilife2b.com/blog