What is the best advice that you have been given?

"Find a job you love and you’ll never do a days work in your life."

After a couple of false starts, I did.

I've never really worked since. Sure there's been days and nights of graft to deploy/build/test/release, but it was all designed to work and even if there were niggles, they were fixed forward and the reward was leaving it working.

I'm heading towards retirement in a few years, but I don't regret the choices made.
 
When my first son was born a good friend gave me some great advice. He said: ''you'll find every other parent is an expert who will always be willing to give you advice on how to bring up your child. But just ignore any advice and do what you think is right...they're your kids and you have to live with the consequences of how you bring them up so do it your way.''
 
When dealing with the belongings of someone who has died.

You do not have to keep hold of everything to retain their memory. Just keep one thing and make it special. You can let the rest go.

I was told this by a psychologist while on a management training course. After my dad had died.

My dad was a joiner. I have one of his set squares mounted on a small piece of wood. With a plaque on it with his name and the words "the old b***r".

He had done work in every house I have owned until he died. We even had the mounting made smaller when we moved in to a smaller apartment. So he downsized with us.

In our small apartment we have things to remember: my dad, my mum, my uncle and my wife's grandma.

As mentioned elsewhere recently I also carry a pitch mark repairer and ball marker on the golf course in memory of my brother.

We have small things to remember every family relative of ours that has died since I was given the advice.
 
spanishman said:
When dealing with the belongings of someone who has died.

You do not have to keep hold of everything to retain their memory. Just keep one thing and make it special. You can let the rest go.

I was told this by a psychologist while on a management training course. After my dad had died.

My dad was a joiner. I have one of his set squares mounted on a small piece of wood. With a plaque on it with his name and the words "the old b***r".

He had done work in every house I have owned until he died. We even had the mounting made smaller when we moved in to a smaller apartment. So he downsized with us.

In our small apartment we have things to remember: my dad, my mum, my uncle and my wife's grandma.

As mentioned elsewhere recently I also carry a pitch mark repairer and ball marker on the golf course in memory of my brother.

We have small things to remember every family relative of ours that has died since I was given the advice.
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When my parents passed away 18 months ago my sister cleared the house (she wanted too and it suited me). But I got to clear the shed with the instructions to be brutal, we’d already saved stuff from the house.

However I came across an ancient Rabone and Chesterman leather bound wind in type tape measure, inches only of course and a Rabone and Chesterman wooden spirit level with brass corners to prevent the wear, museum pieces, no way they were going in the skip.

But my favourite, because I remember him using it since I was tiny and right up to only a year or two before he died - an old plumb bob, just a bashed ball of lead hanging from a string (actually various pieces of tagged on pieces of string). Nothing could sum my dad up more, see him now with his plum line and pencil getting ready to put wall paper on. Value on eBay - you can get fancy ones for £1.00 value to me priceless.
 
I was 20 working in the Civil Service doing a job that bore the sh*t out of me. I was put on secondment as my performance was rubbish, so it was felt a change of scene might help. The Senior Manager at the new place recognised I was bored with the role but said..

"nobody owes you anything. If you're not happy do something about it".

I was probably feeling a bit sorry for myself until that point.
 
"Don't look up and don't make eye contact !" The time a well known 'hard knock' came into the bar we were boozing in, looking for somebody :rolleyes:
 
"Never play poker son" from a mentor at work who was a massive influence on my career.
He made me realise how I wore my heart on my sleeve so obviously.

"Never judge a book by its cover"

In addition to quite a few of the ones already offered by others.
 
This was brought back to me by the Ali Brownlee thread. Years ago I was asked to join the Christmas readings at Middlesbrough Town Hall. Ali was one of the other readers. We were sitting in the green room drinking tea and I clocked how quiet he was. After I'd read my very short poem I went back to the green room and Ali came over and congratulated me. I thanked him and said I hoped his reading would go well. "Bound to", he replied, "I haven't hardly said anything for an hour. The best build up for speaking is staying quiet." I think it was more an observation than advice, but it served me well whenever I had to make presentations over the years.
 
It is a marathon not a sprint. After starting the fantasy football season on fire and running out of steam.
 
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