‘What’s a common piece of “life advice” that’s actually terrible?’ – 23 nuggets of so-called wisdom to go straight in the bin

Ever been given a bit of advice that sounds sensible until you put it into practice and realise you’ve been told something utterly unhelpful?

You’re not the only one, and we say this after Redditor OkAccountant1403 posed the following question on – where else? – AskReddit.

‘What’s a common piece of “life advice” that’s actually terrible?’

And they received a variety of allegedly wise words that turned out to be nothing of the sort.

1.

‘Ignore the bully and they will go away…. Bulls*it. Stick up to that m*****f****r and for yourself!’
–artinwoods

2.

‘‘Follow your passion.’

‘Sounds great until you realise your passion is napping and eating snacks, and neither pays the bills. Sometimes, you gotta follow the pay check and let passion be a side quest.
–dhill12408

3.

”Never go to bed angry with your partner’. Whilst to some extent it’s not the worst advice, sometimes people need the time to process their feelings.

‘Forcing someone to talk to you when they might still be feeling the most angry/sad etc especially when it’s late at night and they could be tired is just going to stress everyone out. I just think it’s not the worst thing in the world if people want time, space or even sleep to be able to calm down.’
–kyahxr

4.

”Be yourself’. Often the problem is that you’re being an arsehole. Don’t compound that problem by being unwilling to change.’
–No_right_turn

5.

”Hard work never hurt anybody’. Bullshit, lots of people die from hard work.’
–Pigs100

6.

”You can be anything you want to be’. No, you can’t.’
–guiltycitizen

7.

‘Kill them with kindness’. Sometimes, it’s appropriate to tear someone a new asshole if they disrespect you.’
–DolliMiu

8.

”Work hard for your company and you will be rewarded’. You have to operate as your own brand and leave for more money. Employers do not care about you.’
–Mountain_King_5240

9.

”Practice makes perfect’. Practice makes permanent. If you practice doing it wrong, you will do it wrong more. Guidance and coaching exists for a reason.’
–maxim38

10.

‘A divorced Bber driver at a bachelor party dropped some wisdom on us. ”Happy wife, happy life’ is bullshit. If you want your relationship to last it needs to be ‘happy spouse, happy house’ because all it takes is one person being miserable to bring the whole house down’.’
–Epicela1

11.

”Respect your elders’. Sure, but let’s be real. Some people don’t get wiser with age. They just get better at being wrong with confidence.’
–CtrlPlusZ_My_Life