Don’t think of cost as a factor in going to law school
This (summer 2006) is a good time to buy real estate because the market might dip a bit in late 2006, but it will rebound in 2007.
A couple from when I was very young & dumb: (1) “It’s only a piece of paper. It can’t make us love each other!” and (2) “So you’ve got a black eye. It only means he loves you and wants you for his own.”
Another from five years ago: “Yes, you have a fixed-rate mortgage with us. We just sold your mortgage to another company. You don’t have to worry about your mortgage.” When I called the other company, “No, company policy doesn’t include fixed-rate mortgages, but don’t worry. The economy won’t allow your new mortgage to go above 10%.” I’m still fighting this one.
Love, Phil
“Even if you don’t feel ready, it’s a good idea to go straight to college after high school.”
No, not if you’re me, because then you’re going to be miserable, have a complete emotional breakdown, and flunk out after three semesters. (Shockingly, things have been much better since I did what I wanted to do all along and took that year to work and travel.)
Assuming this means that he didn’t see the need to get married, wouldn’t not getting married to him be a good thing (ie good advice) if he was abusive?
“Don’t sell your company stock. Ever! What? Don’t you believe in yourself…?”
As told to me be not one, not two, but three seperate B-band managers back when a share of Lucent cost $60. (And back when CEO Rich McGinn was secretly dumping his stock faster than Canadian Falls dumps water at Niagra.)
I now have in my closet a beat up company-logo jacket which is worth more than my entire 401k + all the shares of stock I bought and was ‘given’ in lieu of money from all the years I worked for them. I’ve considered stenciling on the back “I Used To Work For LUCENT And All I’ve Got To Show For It Is This Crummy Jacket.” 
“If your knee hurts when you’re running, the best thing to do is to keep going and push through the pain. Your knees will toughen up.”
This came from my friend who is a marathon runner. Yet this advice is so dumb, I can’t believe I didn’t pause and think on it harder at the time it was given.
Holy crap that is dumb. I can’t believe someone made it through a training program and completed a marathon with that attitude.
Doctors say: quit running
My experience says: Strengthen your quads
Everybody says: Don’t fucking run through the pain!
Damn straight. But even worse is this one:
"Remember, no matter how bad things get, Jesus loves you."
It shouldn’t matter what the policy of the new company is, you entered into a contract for a fixed-rate mortgage, how the hell can they change it for you?
As for me…not advice per say, but for a lot of reasons, I wasn’t able to go to a college or university on a regular basis and get my degree.
There are…or were…lots of people who didn’t see the need for a degree and said people could do just fine with a high-school diploma. That may be, but I was stuck in a dead end job I hated, but couldn’t get out of, until last year when I was able to go to college and start working towards a degree.
Similarly;
“No pain, no gain”. No, if there is pain, there probably isn’t going to be any gain.
“Tough it out”. Sure, most of the time you need to do this in life. But if you’re fighting through physical pain for something that your life and future don’t depend upon, you’re making a mistake. When my hip was being destroyed in TKD classes, I didn’t need to “tough it out”, I needed to back off and let the damned thing heal. Likewise with my elbow in Aikido.
Better Advice: LET INJURIES HEAL.
Sometimes good advice that I’ve ignored, sometimes horrifically bad advice that I listened to because I was trying to ‘learn my lesson’ from having ignored it in the past;
“Go along to get along”.
When your needs and self-esteem are being compromised and sacrificed to the ego of someone above you, “go along to get along” is nothing more than the song of the vampire to his victim.
Better Advice: If it doesn’t hurt you too much, or anyone else too much, go along with the group. You’ll get along with others better and you’ll possibly learn something. If it’s hurting you or they’re hurting others, run like hell. If they paint you as the villain for not liking what they’re doing, run faster.