Practical advice v/s Preaching

In today's fast-paced world, we are inundated with advice from all sides. Whether it's from family, friends, colleagues, or social media influencers, there seems to be no shortage of people who want to tell us how to live our lives. However, not all advice is created equal, and there is a clear difference between practical advice and preaching.

Practical advice is focused on providing actionable steps that can be taken to achieve a specific goal or solve a problem. It is grounded in experience, research, and expertise, and is aimed at helping individuals make informed decisions that will lead to positive outcomes. On the other hand, preaching is often characterized by an individual's personal beliefs or values, and is usually delivered in a way that is intended to persuade or convince others to adopt those beliefs or values.

To illustrate the difference between practical advice and preaching, consider the following example. Let's say that you are struggling to manage your finances, and you turn to two different sources for guidance. The first source is a financial advisor who provides you with practical advice on budgeting, saving, and investing. They give you specific steps to follow, such as creating a budget, automating your savings, and diversifying your investments. The second source is a friend who tells you that you need to stop wasting money on unnecessary expenses, and that you should start living a more frugal lifestyle. They lecture you about the virtues of saving and the dangers of debt, but don't offer any specific advice on how to achieve those goals.

In this scenario, it's clear that the practical advice provided by the financial advisor is more valuable than the preaching of the friend. While the friend's intentions may be good, their advice is not actionable and doesn't provide any real guidance on how to solve the problem at hand. In contrast, the financial advisor's advice is grounded in expertise and experience, and provides concrete steps that can be taken to improve the situation.

There are many reasons why practical advice is better than preaching. First, practical advice is more likely to be effective because it is based on evidence and experience. As the saying goes, "If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you'll achieve the same results." Second, practical advice is more respectful of individual autonomy and personal values. While preaching may attempt to persuade or coerce individuals to adopt a certain way of life, practical advice recognizes that everyone is unique and may have different goals and values. Practical advice allows people to make informed decisions that align with their own beliefs and values. As Oprah Winfrey said, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Finally, practical advice is more likely to inspire action and lead to positive outcomes. When individuals are provided with concrete steps that they can take to achieve their goals, they are more likely to take action and make meaningful changes in their lives. As Tony Robbins once said, "The path to success is to take massive, determined action." Practical advice empowers individuals to take action and achieve their goals.