The best people to ask for help
Newbie? Purple belts may be able to help you more than black belts.
Sure, you can look to the masters or people higher up on the ladder for help. But often, the best advice will come from people who are just slightly ahead of you. They’re the ones who just navigated the obstacle course you’re trying to get through.
People years ahead of you may have forgotten what it’s like to be at your level or things may have just changed too much since then for their advice to be relevant. Like, Dane Cook might be able to tell you how to kill it on MySpace but that ain’t gonna do much for you in today’s TikTok world. If you’re an open mic’er, you might get better advice from someone who just started getting booked at a club then from a big name who tours theaters.
echoed this notion in a piece that includes tips on finding the right mentors/people to ask for help.A few years ago, shortly after receiving admission to grad school, I asked a professor at a top university how to be a successful graduate student. He replied, “I finished grad school thirty years ago, so I’m probably not the best person to ask. You should ask current grad students who are close to finishing, or people recently who finished their PhD.”
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Returning to the level of the individual, if you are trying to level up, the best approach is to borrow the strategies of those a little ahead of you—people who are still signaling. Beware of imitating those who are so far ahead that they can afford to countersignal.
If you are relatively early on your path, it is natural to seek advice from those who have achieved astounding success in your area of interest. You’d be better off, though, asking people who are on a similar trajectory as yourself, but a little further ahead. If you’re a white belt and want to level up, don’t ask the black belt (or red belt) what to do. Ask the purple belt.