As the title says – What’s the best piece of work related advice you’ve ever been given?

Share your nuggets of occupational wisdom. We all might learn something…..

For me it came from a man named John Huxtable, sadly no longer with us. He created an organisation to champion the cause of specialist construction subcontractors who were, and still are, treated horribly by Main Contractors and Clients.

His advice was this……

Every time you write a piece of correspondence, a letter, a fax ( this was 1999 – emails weren’t really a thing ), whatever… DON’T write it to the person whose name appears at the top.

It’s not really for them.

It’s for the High Court Judge who may one day pick up that piece of paper and read it, quite possibly without context… after the project descends into a dispute and ends up in court.

“Adopt a judge of your very own” said John.

“Stick a picture of him above your desk and look at him as you write and put yourself in his (or her) position and try to imagine how he would interpret what you’re trying to say….. entirely within the context of that one piece of paper in his hand. How will that make you appear? Will it further the interests of your cause? Will it clarify the situation or confuse it?”

To this day, I have a picture of this guy …..

…..pinned to the board next to my desk and I give it a glance every time I write any form of business correspondence. It has enforced a discipline in me which has served me well for years and made me better at my job.

Let’s have yours……

Don’t be afraid to ask the stupid question. Chances are others in the room are thinking it.

“Wash you hands twice after chopping chilli’s and heading for a slash”

Is this just an elaborate excuse for you to have a picture of your man crush on your desk 😉

Best advice I was given when I first went freelance/self-employed was

“When you’re really really busy…. that’s when you need to be looking for more work”

From a senior design consultant. How right he was

‘Get yer feet off that table son!’

Go home.

Is this just an elaborate excuse for you to have a picture of your man crush on your desk

NO!, absolutely not. How very dare you. 😳

‘This place is ****, get out of here asap’

When training grommets about cashflow modelling, I often use the phrase:

“It’s better to be approximately right, than precisely wrong”

People quibbling about 0.001% here or £100 there, but they’ve made the mistake of hard-coding some £20,000,000 error in the middle of the spreadsheet.

I had a career councillor in one job. I only ever met him once. He said “look, nobody here gives a crap about your career except you so go and manage yourself and don’t expect anyone else to look out for you”

Brutal to hear as a naive graduate but very true.

One hand for the company, one hand for you, when working above ground / deck level.

What’s the best piece of work related advice you’ve ever been given?

Never eat yellow snow.

Actually it went something like this…

When planning budgets, think of it as your money. Would you really spend it? If so whats the true Benefit realisation and think about tangible and non tangible RoR.

This came form an old Boss many years ago. When I do my planning, I nearly always see him standing over me with Cigar in hand and scuffed brogues.

“You can do whatever you like as long as you don’t get caught doing it”
“Dress for the position you want, not the on you have”
“Never turn down the chance to have beers with the MD/CEO”
“Good, cheap, fast. Pick 2”
“You can con a sucker into committing to an impossible deadline, but you cannot con him into meeting it.”
“Fit on the phone, add 3 stone” is the most disappointingly accurate rule in any phone based job. This applies to girls and guys.
“The bitterness of poor quality lasts long after the sweetness of making a date is forgotten.”
“No matter how sure you are of the conversation taking place, if it is not in writing, it did not happen”

Say yes to things.

If you haven’t got time, don’t say ‘no’, say ‘there isn’t time to do both’ and figure something out.

There’s some genuine wisdom there Lunge

“Dress for the position you want, not the on you have”

Tried that.
Didn’t go down very well when I trapped up on site dressed like this…

Always check your rigging. Keep your Shunt high. Wind speed ready readings should always be doubled on a Friday afternoon.

If the drills come down on your hand don’t pull away. Wait until they go back up then call for a first aider.

There’s some genuine wisdom there Lunge

There really is. At first read it’s a little tongue in cheek but actually, it all has merit.

… somebody is interested in everything, anything you can be interested in, you will find others will. But it’s absolutely stupid to spend your time doing things you don’t like, in order to go on spending things you don’t like, doing things you don’t like and to teach our children to follow in the same track.

See what we are doing, is we’re bringing up children and educating to live the same sort of lifes we are living. In order that they may justify themselves and find satisfaction in life by bringing up their children to bring up their children to do the same thing, so it’s all retch, and no vomit it never gets there.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_sbcSRMsOc[/video]

it gets worse

Lunge – this really strikes a chord

“You can con a sucker into committing to an impossible deadline, but you cannot con him into meeting it.”

I wish I had a quid for or every dip-shit account handler I’ve worked with, who’s put a couple of weeks worth of work down in front of me, then on being told that it’ll take a couple of weeks, says imploringly “but I’ve promised the client they can have it for Thursday.

Best get on the phone now and un-promise him then, eh? And maybe ask how long it’ll actually take before making any more rash, undeliverable promises next time

Nobody ever gets to the end of their life wishing they’d spent more time at work.

“No-one said it would be easy”.

Way back when from my undergraduate dissertation supervisor (and ironically, relatively, it was) but it’s something I’ve reminded myself of often since.

A poor boss will ask the busiest person in the office to complete something he wants doing. That person will do it immediately to get back on track.

There’s a way around it. Keep a list of ongoing stuff handy. When the boss asks, show him the list and ask where he wants his piece of work slotted in. IME he never asked again.

if your over 30 you don’t have a career, you have a job

If you don’t like it **** off and get a new job. This was After I complained my 4 days special leave had been declined after my wifes appendix went pop during premature child birth and I had a toddler to look after. It was he said my fault as I got her pregnant and he had no sympathy as I chose to have kids. He has now retired much to many people’s reliefThis was After I complained my 4 days special leave had been declined after my wifes appendix went pop during premature child birth and I had a toddler to look after. It was he said my fault as I got her pregnant and he had no sympathy as I chose to have kids. He has now retired much to many people’s relief

The more senior you are, the more you should should make the effort to be respectful and polite to people as the more senior you are, the more of a **** they’ll inherently think you are.

In business, 99% solutions usually cost one hell of a lot less than 100% solutions and most people will never notice the difference or didn’t need that extra 1% anyway

Anyone can pick fault, only a few can come up with solutions to problems

The last admittedly is a bit of a cliche but very true

Divide and conquer.

Was relating to IT stuff and the gist is that if you don’t understand something, break it down into bits you do understand and then put it back together.

Served me well over and over.

If you don’t like it **** off and get a new job.

There’s positivity in that too, in the right time and place (not yours, that is shite).

Divide and conquer.

similar to ” How do you eat an Elephant?…One bite at a time”

Learn the difference between “your” and “you’re” 😉

Assume every email you send will be forwarded onto someone you don’t want it forwarded to and write it accordingly

“You can shear a sheep a dozen times, but you can only skin it once.”

A very successful business man told me this when I set up business in the small town in which he’d made his fortune. I think about it every time I raise an invoice or quote.

Be confident with those higher up
Be humble with those lower down

‘Don’t become your job’

Odd bit of advice I got from nerdy watching of Sci-Fi as a kid. From classic Doctor Who when Tegan leaves, her line..

“My aunt Vanessa said, when I became an air stewardess, if you stop enjoying it, give it up!“

Okay I wasn’t planning on being an air stewardess 😆 , but I live by that advice when it comes to jobs. Life is too short to be getting stressed sat around hating what you do.

Don’t be tempted to cast aside a perfectly good solution in the search for perfection.

If at first you don’t succeed, remove any evidence that you tried.

Assumption is the mother of all **** ups