5 of the Worst Pieces of Advice You Will Ever Hear

Good advice is hard to find but terrible advice is available in abundance. Whether you’re launching your own business, climbing through the ranks in your career, or just living your life, terrible advice will find you and could throw you off course.

What follows is a list of the most common bad advice you will hear from friends, family members, colleagues, and mentors.

1. “Try to be Positive”

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It’s good to have a positive attitude at times, but you don’t need to force it and fake it. Life isn’t an aspirational poster. It’s not all kittens, cake, and smiles. Sometimes it’s frustrating. Sometimes it makes you angry. And if that’s the way you feel, then so be it.

What’s really important is that you are honest with yourself. Some positive people are genuinely happy and upbeat all the time. They really do see the glass as half full and it takes a lot to change their mind. But many of them are forcing themselves to think that way and beating themselves up whenever they let negative emotions enter their minds.

Don’t lie to yourself. If you’re upbeat, then be upbeat. If you’re feeling negative, then be negative.

2. “Talent Trumps Hard Work”

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Hollywood has lied to you — talented people can’t cruise through life and the world doesn’t owe them anything.

How many musicians, authors, artists, poets, and actors do you know who work very little but are adamant that they will be rich and famous?

They seem to believe that success will just land in their laps, even if they don’t work for it. After all, that’s how it usually works on TV and in films. Artists create, they do a little work, go for a long and mournful walk in the rain, and by the end of the film, they have everything they ever wanted.

In real life, none of that happens. Even if you have all the talent in the world, you won’t make it without hard work. Success as a creator is 90% hard work and 10% talent, not the other way around.

3. “Never Stop Working”

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Hard work is essential and if you want to be successful, you’ll need to put the hours in. But that doesn’t mean that you should work every hour that god sends.

If you’re constantly working, you’ll eventually burn out, and when that happens, you’ll lose the will to continue and will begin to hate your work and your life.

It’s something you will see in every profession and in all age groups, from young gamers and streamers to older business owners and professionals.

Most of the successful people I know worked constantly when they were young and then quickly found a way to adapt, creating schedules that allowed them to build their work around their life.

The trick is to work smarter, not harder.

4. “Fake It Until You Make It”

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This is arguably the worst advice that you can hear, and yet it’s advice that countless people believe and repeat.

The assumption is that if you pretend to be rich and successful, success and riches will eventually come your way.

There is some truth to it, and if you have the confidence, you can fake your way to building a strong network of successful people, all of whom could help you to grow your career. It’s also a tactic that has been used by influencers and entrepreneurs to gain sponsorships, endorsements, and speaking gigs.

But in the age of cancel culture, a time when authenticity is king and everyone hates liars and fakers, “faking it until you make it” is a sure-fire way to destroy your career before it gets off the ground.

No one likes a liar, and everyone hates arrogant frauds.

5. “Money Isn’t Important”

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There are more important things in life than money. Few people will dispute that. But we don’t live in a socialist utopia. We don’t have access to free healthcare, housing, food, and education, and until we do, money is very important.

Money can’t buy happiness, but it can pay for your medical bills. It can pay for your rent, the house you’ve always wanted, and your child’s college education. Having lots of money in the bank means you’ll never have to worry about missing a meal, watching a pet suffer because you can’t afford vet bills, or missing out on the vacation of a lifetime.

Health and happiness come first, but we’re living in a capitalist, materialistic society run by private companies and powered by the mighty dollar — money makes a big difference and is very important.

Summary: Avoiding Bad Advice

When you’re young and inexperienced, you’re more inclined to listen to terrible advice, especially if it sounds prophetic and comes from someone you trust and like. It can be hard to know what’s nonsense and what’s helpful — if you were able to make that distinction, you wouldn’t need the advice in the first place!

Just remember that life is too complicated to be summed up in a single sentence and success comes through hard work, persistence, and a little luck, and not through the magic of wordplay.

You should still listen to what experts have to say, but before you blindly follow them, make sure they know what they’re talking about, and their advice is relevant to you and your situation.

For some good advice that you won’t regret following, take a look at my business guides or my business and entrepreneurial podcast.