I have recently seen comments online saying that various creators’ advice isn’t original. I understand where these people are coming from and do believe it’s important to credit your sources when possible. However, I also believe that much advice is “public knowledge” without a clear attributable source, and I don’t believe idea originality is the right dimension to use when casting judgment. I think a more important question to ask is whether the advice helps someone. This depends not just on the idea but also the context in which the idea is shared, such as who is giving the advice and how. And if we consider the idea and context to be a package deal, nearly all advice is unique due to variance in the context.
If we assume that the advice-giver wishes to have an effect on the receiver (and not to simply hear themselves speak), these non-idea factors are especially important. For example, a trusted friend may be able to help guide a hard personal decision, whereas equivalent advice provided by an acquaintance may have less value. The opposite may be true as well — equivalent advice given by an acquaintance may have more impact than the same advice from a close friend, as the acquaintance may be seen as a neutral third party. Or perhaps neither’s input matters, and instead the key input comes from a book or the radio.
The exact factors that influence whether or not advice is useful to the receiver are difficult to define — they are unique to each individual and constantly changing. Given the complexity of life, it may not even be possible to define this set of factors. In some cases, we know that advice is more likely to reach the receiver, for example a parent to their child or a doctor to a patient, but in other cases it’s a completely random moment that changes our life.
So if the full context for advice matters, and we are unable to accurately predict which advice will impact someone, what should we do? The answer, in my opinion, is that we should share advice that we personally believe to be valuable, even if that idea has been shared before. We each have unique characteristics and life experiences, and we can’t know for certain which piece of advice might affect someone else.
A simple litmus test: what would a younger version of you want to hear?