Why You Give Great Advice But Can't Live Up To It Yourself

How to make yourself follow your own advice.

Others' problems are always easy to solve but yours never are. Why’s that? What is actually stopping you from thinking of your problems as someone else's? Let’s talk about it.

Wide vs narrow picture

Narrow.

That refers to the problems of others. Only the tip of the iceberg is visible. From that point of view, the problem seems easy and the solution seems obvious. The pain seems more bearable too. You are aware that the situation the person is in sucks, but you see it from a distance, and that gives perspective and clarity.

Distance makes it easier to analyze others’ situations objectively. It removes the “fog” that otherwise can make things harder to see.

Giving advice to others, you operate from a place of emotional detachment - that’s why advice is actually good. If the advice itself is good and works on others, it has only one reason to not work well on you - succumbing to the fog.

Wide.

That refers to your own problems. Those are much bigger than anyone else. Aren’t they? Your problems are covered with the fog. The fog of your emotions, past experiences, and, most important, future consequences.

You will suffer the consequences, so you pay much more attention to the problem, it concerns you. But that is a trap. You search for a key to free from it but sometimes doors are just open.

Disconnect from your emotions and your ego. Look narrowly at your problems, it solves them.

"We suffer more in imagination than in reality." ― Seneca

Conclusion & Actions