12 lessons from dads on how to get everything you want out of life

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No one gives advice like dad.
These Quora users’ dads gave advice on everything from how to be persuasive to how not to be a hypocrite.
Most of these dads lived by example, and never went against their own advice. As for the ones who didn’t, they inadvertently taught their children valuable lessons.
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Dads come in all shapes and sizes, but many of them have one thing in common: they give great life advice.

We looked at what Quora users had to say about their dads and the valuable lessons they learned. We found that most fathers led by example, and the ones that didn’t still taught their children valuable lessons about all the possible mistakes that can be made in life.

In honor of fathers, pops, and dads everywhere, here are 12 indispensable pieces of advice on how to live your life to the fullest and get everything you want from it.

Speak persuasively and listen wholeheartedly.

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Quora user Hannah Yang wrote about the hours she spent at the bookstore with her father, gathering their favorite titles and deciding which ones to take home.

Yang wanted all the books, but her dad said that they could only take a select few. So they each had to defend their choices. Yang said that this taught her to be a persuasive speaker and a careful listener. It also taught her to keep an open mind:

"We didn’t do this often — maybe once every few months or so. Sometimes we’d end up buying armfuls of books, and sometimes none at all. When we came home with a new haul, my mom would usually sigh disapprovingly and remind us that we shouldn’t keep buying things we didn’t need. And I knew she was right.

Then my dad would reassure her by saying that books are a worthwhile investment in the people we want to become.

And I know now, without a doubt, that he was right too."

Saving money is essential.

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Quora user Linda Rappaport‘s dad was deeply affected by the Great Depression: his own father’s glazier business had collapsed, and both his parents passed away when he was 16 years old.

After that, he treated money differently, and did his best to instill those same beliefs in his daughter. When Rappaport was a kid and wanted a new TV, her dad said he’d only buy it if she contributed half the money. After slowly earning enough through babysitting, she got the long-awaited purchase. She said that she wouldn’t have appreciated the TV as much if her dad had just bought it. And now, she’s carried on that appreciation of the value of money:

"I just retired from teaching last week. My house will be paid for in October. My two sons have graduated from excellent private universities — debt-free. I will receive a pension, social-security, and an individual retirement plan that I have assiduously saved for over the course of my career. I will be able to travel, to work on my second novel, spend time with friends and family.

This situation required two things — the understanding that time passes whether we plan for the future or not. And that saving regularly over a long period of time yields good results.

There is nothing like taking care of oneself. And I have my Dad to thank for this lesson."

There is no such thing as a mistake.

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When children learn a new skill, like drawing, they can get frustrated easily, especially when they have a parent who’s perfect at it.

When she was 6 years old, Quora user Claire Yang was drawing fish with her dad, when she realized her fish was much fatter than his. Her dad said that fish come in all shapes and sizes, and that this didn’t make her drawing worse than his.

A while later, Yang made a stray mark near her fish by accident. She complained to her dad, asking him for an eraser. He said that she could change that mark into a wave or another fish behind the main one, and that she didn’t need an eraser. Because of that drawing, Yang learned a valuable lesson in being creative and adapting:

"And so, I created a beautiful fish masterpiece at the age of 6, not a ‘mistake’ to be found.

Through this, I learned a number of things that I would consider later in art as well as general life. He taught me to be original and unique, to turn a negative into a positive, to expand my creativity, and that there is no such thing as a ‘mistake.’"

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Source: Business Insider – ideluce@businessinsider.com (Ivan De Luce)