Advising is like sowing seeds, first prepare the soil!

It is very difficult to live among people you love and hold back from offering them advice.
Anne Tyler
The easiest thing to do is to give advice. But advising is not an end in itself; it should produce the desired result, because advising is a responsible portfolio.
 We should learn from the nature. No matter how fertile is the soil and the seed, the soil has to be prepared before sowing the seeds. The seed also has to be cured and
cleaned in order that it sprouts in the fertile soil.
This metaphor is relevant to advising. We have to prepare the mind of the receiver so that he is in a frame of mind to receive, accept and implement the advice. Like we prepare the seeds, we should also do some home work on the content and process of advice. We have to rehearse the same, mentally evaluate if the process we have chosen is effective so that we achieve the desired result of advising. Choice of every word is important.
This is even more relevant when the advice relates to a major area involving personal transformation such as de-addition, habit change etc, which are difficult to implement.
In agriculture, you don’t blame the seed or the soil, but blame the farmer for a poor crop. It applies to the adviser also!

NC Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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