What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

Quicken_Tyka

The Water Cooler is a space for the community to discuss things other than Quicken and get to know each other better.

The ice breaker today is:

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

Please comment and share your experiences below!

UKR

Quicken_Tyka said:

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

Hmmm ... "Put brain in gear BEFORE you open your mouth."

and 2nd: "Don't assume that it will work, because that makes an **** out of yoU and ME." said my boss once after I messed up a simple computer configuration change without having prepared a fallback option.

NotACPA

A junior, and not very skilled, programmer once tried that "assume" statement on  me.

I asked her if she ASSUMED that she had a job tomorrow.

She quit shortly thereafter.

splasher

From a boss a long time ago: "It is tough enough trying to keep the truth straight, adding lies to it makes it even harder."

smayer97

"Don't marry the one you can live with. Marry the one you cannot live without."

Quicken Francisco

@UKR

I've learned to have a backup the hard way when it comes to a majority of computer troubleshooting. My wallet also has had to pay for it on occasion too.

oldngrmpy1

Carpenters used to use the expression "Measure twice, cut once".  I think that can be used in a lot of aspects of our lives... agreed?

oldngrmpy1

"We are what we repeatedly do, excellence is not an act but a habit" ... Aristotle.   (IBM preached this to all it's employees)

BK

Favorite advice by a former boss: When in doubt, dress up.

Favorite quote by a former boss: They say location, location, location - I say backup, backup, backup in three locations!

Favorite quote: Nothing is ever lost by courtesy. It is the cheapest of pleasures, costs nothing, and conveys much. (Erastus Wiman)

Why is it called common sense when it is so rare?

.

John_in_NC

Be brief, or be brilliant.

Chris27

If u can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS.

Chris_QPW

For the life of me, I can't remember any "best piece of advise" given to me.
Maybe I just wasn't listening.  

Jim_Harman

The Micawber Principle, from David Copperfield:

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.

UKR

- "The best mistakes are the ones we repeat over and over again." --- Unknown

The Hollow Stoat

"Never put anything in your mouth unless it's been thoroughly boiled" — my Mother

Rocket J Squirrel

I'm still waiting for my best piece of advice. In the meantime, my favorite aphorism is

Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.

mshiggins

I've gotten a lot of best advice over the years. What is best is based on what fits in the current context. 

But if I had to pick one it's my Dad's advice that you never know who your boss is going to be.  I've definitely had some unexpected people end up as my boss. Luckily it always turned out to be a good fit. Could definitely have gone the other way...

Tom Young

This one has always appealed to me:

Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with their experience.”

UKR

Jim_Harman said:

The Micawber Principle, from David Copperfield:

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.

One may want to consider the fact that this advice dates back to the 1850s when the Pound Sterling was traded as a non-decimal currency. One pound was equal to 20 shillings (s), 1 shilling was equal to 12 pence (d), with the Farthing (1/4 penny) the smallest denomination.

So we need to rewrite this quote to make it easier to read for modern readers:

• Annual income £ 20, annual expenditure £19 19s 6d, result happiness.
• Annual income £ 20, annual expenditure £20   0s 6d, result misery.

In 1971 the Pound Sterling "went decimal", one pound = 100 pence and we need to rewrite it again:

• Annual income £ 20.00, annual expenditure £19.97½, result happiness.
• Annual income £ 20.00, annual expenditure £20.02½, result misery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilkins_Micawber

Jim_Harman

Wait - Quicken doesn't support pounds, shillings, and pence as a currency?

UKR

Jim_Harman said:

Wait - Quicken doesn't support pounds, shillings, and pence as a currency?

Only if you can find a Quicken version that predates 1971. 

or one of these old adding machines

Sterling Slide Adders

Frankx

A former professor once gave this advice to the class "Illegitimi non carborundum"  - basically "Don't let the bas...ds wear you down".

Chris27

"Silence is your best friend, it'll never betray you."

Boatnmaniac

"Trust but verify."

Hendie

"Best way to save money? Stay out of the stores!" Amazon included.

Richard Troy

My mom always said "Never put all your eggs in one basket", a lesson she learned during the Great Depression, long before Jack Bogle. My investing and flying life have been enhanced by Vernon Sanders' quote: “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.”

mrzookie

from mom: "don't shop with champagne tastes when all you've got is beer pockets"

smayer97

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

Rocket J Squirrel

Ooh! Here's a good one. And it applies directly to software engineering.

Striving to better, oft we mar what's well. (King Lear, Act 1, Scene 4)

NotACPA

An oft quoted line, when I was in systems ... prior to moving to Audit was:

Pioneers get shot full of arrows.

Another was:

Flight (covered with a Post-it Note that read "Check Processing") is not inherently dangerous.
But, like the Sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any inability, inattention or neglect.

Jdubx1

Never take criticism for someone you would not take advice from!