Advice

Luke 4:24: “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.”
Mark 6:4: “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.”
John 4:44: For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.

My initial motivation in wanting to be a career coach was my belief that many people experienced what I called a “guidance gap”. I thought that people weren’t seeing the world through the right lens and that if I could only give them the right advice, it would help motivate them to achieve their goals.

So I wrote a book and blog posts which received poor feedback and spoke with people in person who either didn’t listen or for whom my messages didn’t resonate. I even knew someone who was interested in entering the field of data analytics (in which I’ve been quite successful) and who knew of my experience but still wasn’t interested in talking about it with me.

I enjoy writing but I’m starting to get the message that I should transition to writing solely for myself rather than for some audience. I’ve had some interesting insights lately which I’d like to explore through writing in this blog. Also, I’m leaning back into studying foreign languages and I think I’ll create some online tools for myself in that area.

There is a ton of people on various social media sites trying to compete for clicks, likes, subs, et cetera and, frankly, that sort of competition seems like a tasteless way to present myself.

I recently heard this Duncan Trussell clip on YouTube which has totally transformed my thinking around giving advice:

At 50 years old, I’m having great success with my career, investments, sleep, diet, exercise, health, physique, and my personal relationships. In my mid and late 20s I had tremendous, fantastic success in the dating scene in the various places where I lived. I have tons of stories, advice, perspectives, and experience which I think could be super-helpful to lots of people.

However, I’m not going to expound on *any* of that because it won’t be received in the proper light and is sure to not be appreciated. Instead, I’m going to adopt Duncan’s perspective and keep to myself whatever insights I might have. Hell, what works for me probably doesn’t work for other people anyway.

I’m also following Jordan Peterson’s advice to stop talking to those who aren’t listening because it devalues my message.

I’m both the writer and audience for this article and I approve this message.