what’s something your old man taught you that helped you a lot in your life ?

36 comments

1. Not to play with people’s feelings.
   And always use protection.

2. When doing a job, let the job reflect you.

3. the lords prayer

4. Not a damn thing. The only times he ever spoke to me was to order me to do something….and explaining how I fucked it up.

5. Literally nothing has really helped in life. Don’t know if advice from someone born 40-50 years before would be helpful.

6. Don’t worry about results. You can only try your best. But you do have to try your best.

7. The importance of writing thank-you notes

8. Learn a sellable skill.

9. [deleted]

10. Staying calm and listening is the best thing you can do a lot of time. I saw that man remain calm and collected while being screamed at and walk away shaking hands with the person screaming at him. I have also seen the opposite with him as far as family goes. For some reason my mother could get reactions out of him that no one on earth could. And I always saw those interactions go horrible. This is not to say just take crap from people, but in my life I’ve found this has served me well.

11. Work ethic I guess. He worked alot of hours and was on call often. To me it meant that the job is very important and has helped me get to a good place but I needed a long time to learn other things are important too.

12. LOYALTY.. HONESTY…(which is funny cause he lies to me always😭)..RESPECT.. AND HOW TO BE CRAZY AS F**K…😆😂😬

13. Not to be an asshole, and pay attention to my kids. He was one, and didn’t.

14. He taught me that you gotta to joke to cope; which I use every damn day lol

15. Respect the chainsaw and hung up trees!!

16. How to stand up for myself. Me and my brother were getting bullied when we were younger, even though we feared the kid, he made sure we didn’t fear anyone

17. As a man that didn’t understand the concept & intricacies of relationships; he taught me how to identify & prioritise relationships

    He also taught me to occasionally throw wrenches in said relationships to test the loyalty

    He also taught me that a man provides for his family even if he goes unnoticed, unappreciated & unloved

18. D.T.A.

    ALSO. Don’t owe anyone.

19. *When cleaning something, rub it in a circular motion.* The only piece of advice he ever passed on. Interestingly, he never did any cleaning himself.

20. “you don’t know love until you’ve had kids”
    though it’s not necessarily good advice or true for everyone, it had a huge impact on me as a kid. We grew up poor and in a rough neighbourhood and I’m convinced my parents making me feel safe and loved was literally the difference between me turning out a reasonably well adjusted adult, or like the majority of kids I grew up with that are now either dead, in prison or have serious drug addictions.

21. Don’t go into debt. Be smart with your money and always pay people back and pay your bills in a timely manner. He said he sleeps easy at night knowing he doesn’t owe anyone any money lol.

    His dad was from that generation who borrowed a lot of money and spent a lot of money and he didn’t think a whole lot about the long-term consequences. My dad learned at an early age he didn’t want to do that because he had to bail him out in a few rare instances

22. You gotta look out for yourself first because no one else will.

23. On the job never simply answer “I don’t know” unless your only other option is lying. Mention what you do know related to the topic, what you think is possibly an answer, or how you plan to go about finding an answer without them having to pull it out of you. It won’t save your ass every time but showing people you are actively engaged in with whatever responsibility you have at work makes people feel way more comfortable and confident in you.

24. That you don’t necessarily have to work hard your entire life.
    My father didn’t. Still doesn’t. There’s been times when he did work hard as a young man, but generally he chose not to go down that route. At times to my annoyance.
    I chose to follow other role models who chose work as the defining ingredient to their lives.
    I’m now learning that theres very literally connection with how hard you work and how successful in a career you may achieve to being a decent human being, being happy and content and enjoying the things that are in the end, much more important.
    I’m still not really putting what I’ve learnt into practice as much as I want. But I’m now at least aware, and thanks to my father.

25. How to hold back cumming using a very simple but 100% effective trick.

26. Two that I still find myself telling myself once in a while;

    ​

    1. The mind is the strongest muscle in your body.
    2. It is a great servant but a terrible master.

    Basically to say that your thoughts become your actions (& emotions), but you shouldn’t let it control you – you should just recognise how it’s feeling and train it to respond in a way that you like!

27. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. ” There’s only two things i have to do, be white and die at some point.”

28. * wait 3 seconds before you respond in a tense situation. You’ll have time to think about if your instinct is the right one.
    * Watch the road, assume everyone else is an idiot driver and be aware of what’s happening so you can respond quickly.
    * If you’re going to help someone, do it to help them. Don’t make a big deal out of it, just help and bounce.
    * Finances/investments
    * Try new stuff, failure isn’t a big deal (this was primarily from knowing he had my back no matter what, if I borked it completely we’d just talk about what went wrong and how to do better next time I tried the task at hand)
    * If you’re the smartest person in the room you’re probably in the wrong room (barring teaching of course)

    I also learned a bit from things he wasn’t so good at but it taught me what to be better at in my own life:

    1. Sometimes you don’t need to offer an alternate solution…the one in the works is just fine.
    2. Sometimes you can be right and it’s okay to let it go and try someone else’s way
    3. Not everyone is built to comprehend complex concepts. (he was one of those guys who would try to help explain finances to literally anyone. The good intent was there, but he didn’t pick up on eyes glazing over very well lol)
    4. Temper what you do with alternate activities…even if what you’re doing is good for you it is important to take a break and not get all consumed.

29. How to not be him

30. Unfortunately I kind of learned what to do with my kids by what he didn’t do (if that makes sense).

31. Don’t be too emotionally invested

32. My old man’s favorite phrase was “You can’t learn any younger!”. He was a master electrician & knew everything from plumbing & carpentry to auto repairs. He grew up on a farm w/ 8 siblings. Dropped out of school in the 6th grade to help on the farm & hire out to neighbors. He eventually got his GED & learned electricity. Joined the army & served as a lineman & communication expert. He never stopped trying to learn new things. Can’t learn any younger.

33. my dad had mental health issues so he didn’t actually have a relationship with the kids. He acted like a kid himself.

    BUT I discovered a dude name Adam Carolla when I was younger. And he taught me to “ get a job and fight to keep it“

    I use that advice to this day

34. > Learn from other people’s mistakes.

35. You cant control the world so don’t try.
    Don’t let something you can’t control bother you or make you anxious.

36. As a guy who used to get in alot of fights
    He told me whoever talks to u in a bad way just smile back at him and say thanks
    Got me out of alot of trouble