Advice can be helpful, enlightening, and to be honest, sometimes downright annoying. So, what happens when that “useless”, “piece of crap”, “annoying” advice turns out to be a life changer?
Reddit user 5000Castillo asked, “What felt like a useless piece of advice until you actually tried it?” the responses were, you guessed right, anything but useless.
Here are 25 of some of the most useful life tips that once across as useless:
1: “Someone once told me, ‘Clean your house before leaving for more than five days.’ Truly, nothing is better than coming back to a clean house.” —Saturnwithasunroof
2: “Try killing roaches with soapy water in a spray bottle. It sounds useless, but it works better than any insecticide I’ve ever tried, and it’s non-toxic and really easy to clean up.”- MinimalistFan
3: “Put on your own oxygen mask first.’ Like they tell you on an airplane, you can’t help anyone effectively if you’re not first okay yourself. I was always self-sacrificing — to the point of being hospitalized once for exhaustion. A great therapist told me that I’m good at helping, but I have to be at least at a baseline before I’m effective.”—anaximander
4: “Don’t suffer future pain.’ In other words, worrying about all the stuff that could happen stops you from doing things, or worse, turns potential pain into actual mental pain.”—0nlyhalfjewish
5: “‘Go to therapy.’ I always considered myself ’emotionally stable,’ so I thought it was a pointless idea. I went once with my ex-girlfriend in order to try and work out problems in our relationship, but I learned so much about myself and got some amazing life advice. 10/10.” —YepThatLooksInfected
6: “My mom told me to spend ‘good’ money on the things that ‘separate you from the ground.’ So tires, shoes, mattresses, etc. I finally bought good, expensive shoes and life were SIGNIFICANTLY better. They last SO much longer and my back and posture improved, too.”—KalePanic-
7: “In regards to saving money, I was always told, ‘Pay your bills, pay yourself (i.e., put money in savings), then spend.'”—Cowboy7220
8: “Clean as you cook, do the dishes right away, and 10 minutes every day walking through the house picking things up/organizing. So much better than hours of cleaning on one day”- Olive767
9: “When you are sad, eat healthily, do a lot of sport and try to take fresh air under the sun. It sounds like the typical piece of shit, but it works incredibly well. It probably is something purely chemical, so it is definitely worth a try.” – KatKume
10: “‘Your gums bleed when you floss because you don’t floss enough.’ It sounds like something dentists just say, but it turns out if you floss enough, your gums won’t be inflamed so they don’t bleed.” —smityhasnwrth43
11: “My dad always told me, ‘Ask anyway, the worst they can say is no’ when I needed something. Turns out that advice has helped me with school, raises, plans with new friends, and with people in general.”—astrocanyounaut
12: “‘Compliment people behind their backs.’ This sounds stupid, but it works WONDERS.”—La_Lechuga
13: “‘Keep your shoulders back.’ It was a suggestion I saw for preventing panic/anxiety. I don’t know what it is, but when your shoulders are in that position it gives some strange feeling of control. It works for me, so it could work for you, too.” —coralclouds
14: “‘There’s what you need, there’s what you want, and there’s what you can’t afford.’ My dad says this all the time and, while I never thought of it as useless, I never used it. Now that I have started following this, managing my money is far easier.”—Ekscalliber
15: “‘Put cold water on freshly shaved skin and it will make it so you don’t get ingrown hairs.’ This seems incredibly simple, but it’s still some of the best advice I’ve ever received.”—VHStape89
16: “As someone with a phobia of needles my entire life, I finally had a nurse tell me to ‘ask for a spare alcohol pad and sniff it’ right as I’m about to get jabbed. She said the harsh smell is enough of a distraction to keep your mind off the needle. It worked! I’ve been doing it ever since.”—Sylfaein
17: “You’re not hungry, you’re thirsty!’ I would eat a big meal and wonder why I still felt hungry afterward, but it was because I wasn’t drinking a glass of water with my meals. Now, if I notice I’m hungry after eating a normal portion, I have a glass of water and wait five minutes before I eat more.”—IamLukeDaniel
18: “Stick to the same sleep schedule on your days off that you follow on days when you have to be somewhere.’ I spent my whole life sleeping until noon on weekends thinking I was storing sleep in some imaginary sleep bank. I recently started waking up early on weekends and now I have no trouble waking up when my alarm goes off during the week.”—sparrow_one
19: “I had a problem looking at people’s shoulders while they were speaking instead of in their eyes. I told a coworker about it, who told me, ‘Just look at their ears, nobody can tell the difference.’ Life-changing, seriously — no one can tell the difference.”—theycallmetangerine
20: “Someone once told me NOT to take my cellphone into bed with me/to charge it away from my bed. After a while, I found I slept much easier without the distraction and the blue light shining straight into my eyes right before bed.” —Mr_Impossibro
21: “Trying to lose weight? When going somewhere in your car, try and park as far from your destination as you can, when you can. I read this tip somewhere else when I was at my heaviest and really trying to lose. Every morning instead of taking the first spot available at work, I’d take the farthest one back. I had to trek a bit to just get to the door, then through the office and upstairs to my cube. It felt good whenever I did it, and it put me in this mode where I wanted to do other healthier things throughout the day. I went from 385+ to 220 in about a year and a half after I started adapting those baby steps (among many other baby steps, of course!)” – Eep1337
22: “Show up. You don’t have to be the best worker or friend. Just being the one that shows up, it will mean a lot to everyone. I got this advice from a Redditor on a post similar to this. It has helped me a lot. I never participated in shit because I felt like it wasn’t wanted or needed. Turns out a lot of people are self-absorbed or flaky and the simple act of just being the one who shows up is monumental. Show up to the moving party. Show up to your kids’ events. Show up at your company picnic. Show up to the HOA meeting. Show up to your awkward friend’s open mic night. When you show up for other people they will start showing up for you” – MiasmaFate
23: “Walking away when someone is rude. Like completely not responding at all. Successfully disengages literally every time.” –enigmaticowl
24: “Accept that you aren’t for everyone, just like everyone isn’t for you. I spent a long time constantly worrying about what people thought of me. If they secretly hated me, were talking crap about me to others. Then I realized one day it doesn’t matter. Knowing about it doesn’t change anything, does it? I don’t like everyone so why should (or would) everyone like me? It’s made me more confident and it’s easier for me to talk to people I don’t know.” – tinypurplepiggy
25: “Stopping drinking really is easier if you take it one day at a time” – patstoddard
What piece of “useless” advice have you received that was life changing?