When you’ve lived life as long as you have, you likely have all kinds of advice that you could give those in your life that you want to see succeed. However, just because you’re wise in years doesn’t necessarily mean that you know the right ways to go about giving advice to the people in your life. So the next time you have someone coming to visit you at home or in your senior living community, consider how using these tips could help you have more productive conversations.
To help you with this, here are three tips for giving advice to younger friends or family members so they actually hear you.
Ask Them If They’d Like Some Advice First
As you go about having conversations with people, you might find that there is ample opportunity for you to offer advice to them. But before you just start sharing your thoughts about what they should do on impulse, you should first ask them if they’d like your advice.
Oftentimes, if you’re able to stop yourself from offering unsolicited advice and ask the person you’re speaking to if they’re looking for advice and would like some advice from you, you might find them more open to what you’d like to share with them. Additionally, if they really aren’t looking for advice but are just sharing about their life with you, you’ll be giving them the chance to respectfully decline your advice without offending you or being put off by what you would have said to them.
Maintain An Open Mind
While you might think that your experience in life makes you qualified to give people all kinds of advice, there are always going to be subtle nuances to whatever is going on in other people’s lives that you may not really have great advice for. So when you’re listening to what they’re sharing about their situation, it’s wise to maintain an open mind to what they’re saying and how your advice could be used for them.
The more you’re able to accept the thoughts, opinions, and personality of the person that you’re sharing your advice to, the more applicable this advice is likely to be.
Share Your Own Related Story
Sometimes, when people are given blatant advice, they may not take it well. So if you have something you want to share or a different point of view that you think someone should consider, you may want to introduce this to them in the form of a personal story.
If you have a personal story from your life that you think is applicable to what’s happening with your loved one, consider just sharing your story with them and how it impacted you. Then, you can allow your loved one to draw their own conclusions and find their own morale from your story.
If you want to give advice to someone but you’re not sure about the best way to go about it, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you with this.
