Life Pro tips You Received?

[FrodoSwaggins]

What's a great life pro tip you received from someone who knew from experience?

I will start.

One time I worked with a guy who did food demos for middle school students. He told me, "When you cut off a divet, save that thing, they can stitch it back on!"

Great advice, when you cut off a hunk of your finger, don't throw it out. The people who sew these things back on have a ton of practice and teeny tiny needles and thread. 

How'd this guy learn? Didn't save the divet! Takes a lot longer to heal.

[gorzek]

one i was told was: when writing your resume, the least verifiable things on it are the bullet points about your job duties and accomplishments. that's the one place you can really go nuts selling yourself and it's almost impossible to catch you lying.

you could make up a school/degree or a past job and boy howdy those can be found out. but if you say "saved 20% in procurement costs by switching to Geico," who is gonna say you didn't?

[Aloria]

here's one I made up:

at a friend's house and brought leftovers from a restaurant you wanna keep?
put your keys on them in the fridge. won't forget your leftovers if you can't leave without them.

[ScottyMcGee]

In general, people tend to be most agreeable right after eating lunch. So, if you need to talk to your boss, a co-worker, friend, family member, literally anyone about something controversial or important - wait until right after lunch.

[gorzek]

That's a good one! Hadn't heard that one before.

Here's another: when making a decision, set a reasonable short-term deadline for making it, then make a choice. It doesn't matter if you don't have all the information or if you are waiting for perfect circumstances. Make a decision and execute it. Research suggests that successful people are very good at doing this, and also very good at realizing when a decision isn't going well and quickly pivoting.

A lot of people get mired in decision paralysis and that's a guarantee you won't get anything done.

This post was last modified: 01-29-2025, 12:50 PM by gorzek.

[gorzek]

Another one I think about: promote yourself. Often. Most of us are raised with the idea that we should be humble, that self-promotion is egotistical, etc. In reality, most people get ahead do so because they are great at selling themselves. They know what they are good at, and they know how to get others to believe them and give them opportunities. A huge part of that is simply promoting yourself to others.

Obviously there's a right time and place for it, but if there's a chance for you to seize an opportunity and the only thing holding you back is you're worried you might be promoting yourself too much... quiet that voice down and sell yourself!

Mind you, this doesn't have to be about capitalism, either. This applies to any context where you have something to offer and you're holding yourself back for fear of appearing less than humble. People may not always want your help or appreciate you offering, but you shouldn't preemptively assume that's the case.