Unit 3 Can We Help You?

Activity One: The Art of Giving People Advice Activity Two: Quotations About Advice

The Art of Giving People Advice

When your friends ask you for advice, what will you do?You bare not watching your friends suffer, that’s for sure, but how far can you go?

Below are some tips to help you.

Tip 1: Listen. Never assume that you know all about the problem. Listen carefully to the friend who wants advice, and learn as much as possibly about the situation.

Tip 2: Be an active listener. Ask questions if you need clarification. Being an active listener will help you give good advice and increase the chances for the person to take your advice.

Tip 3: Put yourself in your friend’s shoes. You are not the one who needs advice. So, try to imagine yourself being in the other person’s situation. Don’t rely solely on your experiences to give advice because you are not the person.

Tip 4: Think about the consequences. What’s the consequences if your friend takes your advice? Consider the pros and cons that your advice may bring. Think about both the short-term and long-term consequences of your advice. Key decisions are usually very important because of their long term effects.

Tip 5: Empathize. Giving advice is more than a logical exercise. Many matters require sensitivity and thoughtfulness. Giving advice usually involves helping a person deal with conflicting emotions as well as conflicting choices.

Tip 6: Brainstorm with your friend. There is no clear-cut right answer to a problem, even for very simple questions. It can be beneficial to help the person develop his or her own answers.

Tip 7: Be honest. Your goal should not be to blindly lead the person, but rather to help him or her make a good decision, so don’t act like a salesman.

Tip 8: Set a good example. Always do what you say. If you advise one thing but do the opposite, your advice will be seen as phony and hypocritical.

Tip 9: Understand that your friend may not take your advice. Don’t be surprised if your friend rejects good advice and decides to make his or her own mistake.Live with it, and let your friend live with his or her decision.

Tip 10: Think twice before giving unsolicited or unwanted advice. If someone doesn’t ask you for advice, it can be considered offensive to give advice.

Tip 11: Don’t give advice that you yourself would not follow. This is a very good test of the strength and feasibility of your advice.

Tip 12: Be sure to separate facts from opinions. Almost all advice is in some sense subjective. Be sure to separate facts from opinions, but feel free to give the person both.

Tip 13: Never be afraid to admit that you don’t have any good advice about a particular situation. If you have no advice to give but still want to help the person, suggest that the person consult someone with more knowledge about the situation.

End of Activity One

Quotations About Advice

Below are some quotations related to advice. After you read them, discuss them with your classmates.

Discussion: Choose one quotation that you do not agree and share the reason with your classmates. Choose one quotation that you cannot agree more and share the reason with your classmates. Create your own quotation about the topic “advice” and share your work with your classmates.

Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties. Aesop

The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right. Hannah Whitall Smith

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t. Erica Jong

In giving advice, seek to help, not please, your friend. Solon

People who ask our advice almost never take it. Yet we should never refuse to give it, upon request, for it often helps us to see our own way more clearly. Brendan Francis

Ask advice only of your equals. Danish Proverb

I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite. G. K. Chesterton

Never give advice unless asked. German Proverb

Many receive advice, few profit by it. Publilius Syrus

Never take the advice of someone who has not had your kind of trouble. Sidney J. Harris

I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it. Harry S Truman

The advice of friends must be received with a judicious reserve; we must not give ourselves up to it and follow it blindly, whether right or wrong. Pierre Charron

Never advise anyone to go to war or to marry. Spanish Proverb

It’s your turn! _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ by __________

End of Activity Two