You should...

"Fire that owner"

"Use EOS"

"Raise your fees"

"Hire remote"

"Grow faster"

"Hire a BDM"

"Use XYZ software"

People dispense advice like Tic Tacs - and most of it is worth about as much.

Today's newsletter is an ode to, The Correct Universal Approach™.

In every arena, there are opinions and then there's dogma - what I am referring to here is the latter.

Dogma is a shortcut.

Useful advice requires context, dogma only requires conviction.

Useful advice requires nuance, dogma applies to all people in all circumstances.

THE IRON LAW OF TAKING ADVICE

In the vast majority of cases, people are not giving you advice tailored to your circumstances.

Why? Because they don't have the context you do.

Absent context, you are getting advice for what they think you SHOULD BE striving for - even if it's diametrically opposed to your actual goals.

Let me state it again because this is the single point of the newsletter.

Most people giving you advice are solving for a different outcome than what you are actually pursuing. You must forcibly clarify what outcome or end the advice given was meant to effectuate before you can understand its utility.

If you fail to clarify, take the advice and get a bad outcome - that's on you.

Consider the following filters for any piece of advice...

What does this person have invested in being right?

Ego? Yeah that's everyone.

Their livelihood? That's a real conflict of interest.

Authors, consultants and pundits have something to lose by being wrong - this isn't nefarious, it's just the nature of making a living from giving advice. But what it does mean is that you're not dealing with someone who operates with complete freedom in the marketplace of ideas.

Their advice being fundamentally wrong in your specific circumstance may not be a welcome conclusion as it devalues their, Correct Universal Approach™.

Other reasons people might want you to take their advice:

• Avoiding conflict
• Speeding up a decision
• Avoiding thinking hard
• Making them look good

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None of this has anything to do with what's best for you.

When in doubt - slow down and press for clarity.

Have they done it?

In second place for volume of bad advice are people without firsthand experience talking about how to do something they've never done.

This is common with people at level X talking about how to get to level Y.

Extrapolations and assumption are useful - but only when taken as such.

The level of conviction here can be unreal - because they want it to be true.

Applying the firsthand filter will cut out a broad swath of bad advice.

You will also miss some good advice - the tradeoff is worth it.

Do they understand what I am trying to do?

If you didn't explain it, or they didn't listen / understand then no, they do not understand your goals and cannot provide high quality advice tailored to your situation.

That doesn't mean the advice isn't good - it just means you need to pay close attention to understand the context / aim of their advice and see if it happens to match up with your situation and discard if not.

Do they value what you value?

The number one cause of internalizing bad advice is listening to people that value different things than you.

I still remember my parents asking me when I was going to get a real job.

Was that because they didn't believe in me? No, it was because they cared about me but did not care about my dream of entrepreneurship.

They valued my safety and stability above all else. Love them!

But given my aims, they were a persuasive source of bad advice.

The ultra successful operator with no kids, or a series of wrecked relationships - is unlikely to be a source of good advice if you value family above career.

The operator with a successful small shop and massive time freedom is completely unqualified to tell you how to scale a big business.

Bad advice most commonly comes from people that value / weight things differently than you do.

Let's tease out a specific example.

"How hard should I work?"

Can you see how this is an impossible question to answer without context?

Working 80 hours a week is either completely sensible or disastrously counter productive depending on your goals.

Consider that the highest achievers answer this question near uniformly:

1. “I think people who pretend you can be super successful professionally without working most of the time are doing a disservice.” - Sam Altman
2. “I work from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. I work seven days a week.” - Jensen Huang
3. “It would be safe to say that in those days we all worked a minimum of sixteen hours a day.” - Sam Walton
4. “At Apple, people are putting in 18-hour days. We attract a different type of person…” - Steve Jobs
5. “In my experience, about 60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity.” - Sergey Brin
6. “Work like hell. You just have to put in 80‑ to 100‑hour weeks every week. This improves the odds of success." - Elon Musk
7. “Could you work 130 hours in a week? The answer is yes. - Marissa Mayer
8. “Work like there is someone working 24 hours a day to take it all away from you.” - Mark Cuban
9. “I think it is a huge blessing that we can work 996.” - Jack Ma on working 9am to 9pm 6 days a week.

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Does this sound like pursuing a healthy work life balance to you?

No.

Is it any surprise that people who put more in, get more out, and advocate for others to do the same?

No.

Is there any question that the dispositive testimony of the greatest achievers is that it took herculean effort and required extreme sacrifice elsewhere?

No.

Should you emulate this behavior?

The only way to answer is to ask yourself honestly if you are trying to compete for Olympic-level greatness at work & are willing to subordinate everything else.

If by contrast you just want to achieve financial freedom - while maximizing other areas of life - working 80 hours a week long term makes no sense because you will have no time for the rest of life.

Again, context is everything.

So the next time you hear The Correct Universal Approach™ on XYZ matter, start asking the clarifying questions to know if the advice is worth the paper it was written on.

It's great for clicks, views and brow beating - but not much else.

Only you can do the work to define what you truly value.

A life well lived is one where you stay true to yourself - even in the face of extreme pressure to conform, submit and surrender to other peoples priorities.

Fight the good fight,

- JAAM​​

P.S. - Did you know my ^ signature ^ is always linked to music? According to Spotify I am mostly into Alternative Hip Hop, Soul, Electronica and Jazz. HBU?

P.P.S. - Ben White on the Future of Property Management: Higher Fees, Happier Clients < Ben White Spoke at PM Grow almost a decade ago and is still at it.

P.P.P.S. - Dave Matthews Band bus incident < Trust but verify everyone's story.

P.P.P.P.S. - ChatGPT embedded smart glasses for $35. Can't vouch for quality.

P.P.P.P.P.S. - The Decline of Deviance < Some really notable social trends 📉

P.P.P.P.P.P.S. - We keep inching closer and closer to a paradigm where PMS data is truly free. Remen is one of the ppl making headway, "Propexo MCP Intro"

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