Complex Numbers

Advisory

Let's do another random prompt from "JAFBG"  [XGC]...

Share some of the worst advice you've ever heard or received.

Thing about bad advice is that if it's really bad advice, then it's blindingly obvious that it's bad advice. Well, I should say "blindingly obvious to anyone with a rudimentary brain," because apparently, people have actually attempted to charge their iPhones in a microwave.

No, what's worse is advice that seems, at first glance, to make sense, until you actually do it and face the consequences. Something like... "You know, you should always carry a balance month-to-month on your credit cards, to build your credit rating." Yeah... no. Oh, it might help with the credit rating compared to not using credit cards at all, but you'll end up paying loads of interest. The correct solution is to use the credit cards and pay them off in full at every billing cycle; there's usually a grace period before interest kicks in. (This applies in the US; I don't know about other places.)

Another lousy one is "follow your passion." I've no doubt it works for some people, especially people whose passion is lucrative. But, like, if your passion is video games, maybe pick something else for a career. Everything I've heard about the video game industry makes it seem tantamount to slave labor, which is enough to make your passion not your passion anymore. Maybe take up knitting.

On the other hand, "passion" used to be a synonym of "suffering," so maybe that's not as bad a piece of advice as I'm making it out to be.

I also can't abide "Be creative." I'm no expert on creativity, especially in other people, but for me, it's not something I can do on demand. "Oh, I need a special word here. Something different and unexpected. Something creative." "..." (8 hours later it comes to me) "Goddammit."

Which is related to the common writing advice, "Write what you know." While not inherently bad, it's constraining. I prefer "Know what you write."

But, by far, the worst advice you can ever give or receive?

"Be yourself."

First of all, it's literally impossible to be, say, Robert Downey Jr., unless you're actually Robert Downey Jr. One has no choice but to be oneself. At least, with current technology.

Second, and perhaps less literally, you know when you're really yourself? It's when you're, like, taking a shit and picking your nose at the same time. Best not to do that in public, you know. Or maybe during sex, with your inhibition transmission stuck in neutral. No one wants to see you having sex in public, do they? Well, I guess some people do. I won't kink-shame. But the vast majority of us would prefer you keep that behind your curtains.

No, in most situations, you don't want to be yourself; you want to be the best version of yourself.

As for how to do that, well, I'm all out of ideas for the day.