Funny how a lot of times people dishing out advice don’t exactly have their own lives together. Even if they do, sometimes that advice seems, well, bizarre to say the least.
Someone on reddit asked “what is the strangest advice you’ve ever gotten that actually worked.” Here are the best answers.
1. You’re not a fish.
A coworker told me that when someone has the hiccups you tell them “you’re not a fish.”
The amount of times this has worked has convinced me she’s a witch. I have texted her at least a half-dozen times whenever it worked. At one point while I had the hiccups and asked a friend to tell me I’m not a fish. Worked. Fucking sorcery. – sinisterSoup
2. Peripheral vision.
If looking for something in a low light environment, try to use your peripheral vision.
I read about it in an old WWII manual about aerial combat at night. It has something to do with how eyes work. It has helped me many times over the years. For finding stuff in a darkened room, or outside in a field at night, not aerial combat. – BMLortz
3. An awkward situation.
From my 7-year-old daughter…I still laugh about it today.
If you’re ever in an awkward situation with someone or need to just go away- you could always pretend to choke on something. I don’t know where this came from but it’s funny AND it works. You just run away to get a glass of water. – Typical-me-
4. Improve your posture.
To improve your posture, pretend that you are shooting lasers out of your nipples and trying to shoot people in the head. – Lt_Dickballs
5. Remembering a song
If you need to remember something, write it 3x or say it out loud 3x. – RainingRetro
6. Do it scared.
If you can’t fight the fear, do it scared. Got me through a lot of anxiety. – ChasingAlnilam
7. Make them tell you no.
“Make them tell you no.” It’s great when you’re not sure if you should apply for a job, go for a promotion or a raise, or do something you’re afraid of. Don’t be so worried about getting told no or failing, you’ll surprise yourself. – Marnett05
8. No excuses.
Don’t give excuses unless they ask for it. For example, if you are late for work, just say that you are late. Not why you are late. – Gurkeprinsen
9. Embarrassment.
It’s only embarrassing if you’re embarrassed. The older I get, the more I understand this one. – PB-JAM
10. Wisdom of the elders.
Two from elderly southern relatives:
Somethin’ ain’t nothin’— taking 5 minutes to work out, clean, work on a big project, etc. is better than 0 minutes. We often think we’ve got to do 2 hours of rigorous work or it doesn’t accomplish anything.
Time will pass either way—if you want to work to get better at something, accomplish a long-term goal, or change careers or credentials, don’t look at the 2-5 years and think you’ll be too old. If you’re 24 and want to go to college, you’ll be 28 in four years with or without a degree regardless of what you do in that time. – Mild-Intrigue
11. Fail quickly.
Fail quickly, as in: If your plan may not succeed, better to find out next week than next year. Helped me quit a suffocating job and dig into my own business 10/10 – NNakedLunchDate
12. If you don’t know…H2O
One time the guy who came to fix my refrigerator told me “If you don’t know what to do, drink some water”. It’s actually surprisingly solid advice. – FearlessLingonberry
13. Yet.
I tell my daughter to add the word “yet” after anything about lacking something.
“I don’t know how to play this game.” Becomes “I don’t know how to play this game yet.” That sort of thing.
It’s meant to redirect negative self admonishment into a drive to grow and learn. And apparently, it’s sinking in, because she will say something like “Ugh, I can’t make it up this hill!” while we’re out bike riding and then catch me looking at her, give a big eye roll and go “…yet!” in the exact tone you think a teenage girl would use
Then she ends up sometimes just rage-succeeding to prove the point, it’s great. She’s going to be at least 3 times better than me, low as that bar may be. – Zambeeni
14. Do it.
I tell myself my increased heart rate and racing thoughts are just signs that my body is priming itself to allow me to do something I didn’t know I could do. I used to think they were signs to quit, but they’re really an ignition sequence. – dramaticFlySwatter
15. Give it 24.
·If you want to buy something, wait 24 hours and if you still want to buy it afterward then buy it. This has really cut my impulse buying down and has made saving money extremely easy. – ThaMuffMango
16. Keeping steady.
While walking with a full glass or tray of water, try walking naturally and don’t pay attention to the water. Your natural gait is even and level (assuming you don’t have one leg shorter than the other or anything like that), while walking slow and trying to keep the water level will have the opposite effect. – erox70
17. Dad
“Don’t pass a pig truck on the outside of a sharp curve.” -My dad, on the occasion of my earning my driver’s license.
Thirty years later, I’m behind a pig truck on some fairly twisty/turny highway. It’s going slow AF, so I want to pass. But there’s a sharp right-hand curve just ahead. Dad’s voice (RIP, pops) comes down from the heavens like Obi Wan telling Luke to use the force. Except that it’s that same advice.
I hang back a few seconds, only to see a sheet of liquid pig faeces wash out of the densely packed pig truck’s trailer floor. It misses my car completely but totally coats the two cars that went around me and tried to pass the truck.
Dad’s voice: “Remember. The Force will be with you… Always.” – gaspronomib
18. Ice it.
Stressed, upset, panic attack, ennui? Put an ice cube in your hand. Move it around your hand until it slowly melts. It takes about 5 minutes.
Primary Effect: the cold on your skin grabs your brain’s attention. You stop thinking about what was stressing you out and feel present in the moment.
Secondary Effect: the cold cools your blood, which goes into your heart and slows down the beating. As your heartbeat slows to maintain your body heat, your lungs breathe more slowly as well. It forces you to breathe, which calms you down.
After 5 minutes of this, you will feel much calmer, if slightly drippy. – LeskoLesko
19. The dance.
When walking among other people, there’s a trick to avoid the annoying little “whos gonna pass on what side” dance, where both of you go left, then both go right, and then you finally pass :
pick a direction and aim your face towards your intended direction, like look to the left or right of them, clearly turning your head in a single direction.
this is a clear signal to people so there’s no confusion as to which way you want to pass them. I haven’t had that annoying dance since. – 1nsaneMfB
20. ADHDefense.
For all my adhd’ers or others who struggle with executive function, do chores while waiting. Have something in the oven? Let’s see how much laundry you can fold before the timer goes off. Microwave? I bet you can empty the dishwasher in 90 seconds. On a phone call? Pop in those earbuds and let’s tidy while we talk.
I get so hung up on Waiting Mode™️, and the novelty of trying to accomplish a small task during that interim feels a bit like deadline pressure, which is basically the only thing that motivates me. Tricking my brain into a mini productive panic is startlingly effective. – YaBoyfriendKeefa
21. High fives.
For a perfect high five look at the elbow of the other person. 100% of the time it’ll be a spot on high five. – stanksnax
22. Clogged nose.
How to unclog your nose. Close your mouth and pinch your nose so you can’t breathe. Shake your head up and down until you need to breathe. Remove your hand from your nose and breath (through your nose, not your mouth). Been doing this for a while now and it’s pretty effective. – Galaxy-Chaos
23. Spend the extra cash.
Don’t be cheap with things that hold you off the ground (shoes, beds and tires) – doey93
24. A lil sniff.
Sniffing rubbing alcohol to quell nausea. I thought it was dumb but it actually works pretty well. – smallanimalparty
25. Snapshot.
Blinking twice when reading info from textbooks to sort of mimic photographic memory. Works for me for some reason. – fritchbi
h/t: Someecards