Have you ever given someone the same advice over and over again? I'm talking about they keep asking for your advice and you keep giving it over months and years. Then out of the blue you see the person and they're like, "I was watching Oprah and she gave out some really great advice." It's always Oprah. And the advice is the same advice you've been giving the person since the beginning of time. If you haven't been in this situation before then I'm super jealous of you. This happens to me all the time. Honestly, I have to hold back from yelling at clients and if I ever meet Oprah we are definitely going to have words.
I was in a little bit of a different situation recently. I had to listen to my client talk about how she always has to give her sister the same advice over and over again. My client was very visually annoyed. The interesting for me was that I was looking at the situation from outside. It forced me to empathize with not only my client but also her sister.
It would've been easy for me to just agree with my client about how annoying the situation can be (have I mentioned how annoying it is?) but I don't think that would've helped her in the long run. I tried to take her sister's side just so she could at least here that perspective. The thing is I got a lot out of it also. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to handle these same situations with clients better.
A thought I came out of the session with was "body blows". Whenever you watch a boxing or MMA match the commentators always mention body blows. They talk about how when body blows are landed it makes it easier to score a knockout with a head shot. So when you're giving the same advice over and over again, you're landing body blows. Then they hear the advice somewhere else and it finally clicks. That's the head shot.
This leads to my other thought that came out of the conversation. People not only have to get the advice at the right time but they also have to get it from the right person. Or maybe the not the wrong person.
My client was talking about her older sister. It's probably hard for an older sibling to accept advice from a younger sibling. (I'm totally speculating here about there relationship.) Or maybe they are too close to each other to give/receive this kind of advice from one another. I think this happens with clients and myself.
Yes it's part of my job to give advice but, especially with long term clients, over time the relationship can/does change. So I think it can be hard for clients to hear and accept advice that's coming from me. This is where Oprah comes in.
