ADVICE THAT RINGS TRUE

Learn to follow essential advice when the opportunity beckons.

An efficiency expert once concluded his lecture with the comment, "Please don't try these techniques at home."

"Why not?" he was asked.

"I used to watch my wife prepare breakfast and wondered why she made so many trips to the table carrying only one item at a time," he replied. "One day I asked her, 'Wouldn't it be quicker and more efficient if you organized yourself to carry several things to the table at once?'"

"Did it work?" he was asked.

"Oh, yes, it worked," the expert replied. "It used to take my wife twenty minutes to prepare breakfast. Now I do it in seven."

Not all advice is readily received. And sometimes it is not heard the way it was intended. But neither should all advice be followed; rather, wisdom learns to separate kernels of truth from weeds.

Some advice worthy of consideration, though, comes from one of the richest people in the United States, offered to 380 high school students in Omaha, Nebraska. Here are five suggestions multi-billionaire Warren Buffett gave his audience:

1. Avoid credit cards. If you are going to make progress, you will not do it by borrowing at 18 to 20 percent interest.

2. Develop integrity, which guides intelligence and energy. Buffett said he looks for these three qualities in hiring people. "If they don't have the first one, integrity, the other two will kill you."

3. Establish good habits, picking people to admire and following their example, while learning to weed out attributes that are not admirable. "If you do that," he admonished, "two or three years from now you'll find out the person you admire most will be yourself."

4. Learn about companies before investing in them; do not rely on someone else's advice.

5. Choose professions for love of the work, not money.

My "Internet" friend, Alan Hillman, who sent this list, adds an excellent comment: "I believe the same advice is true for all of us, even someone like me who is about to enter my sixth decade of life. Seven years ago I decided to do what I loved most - loving people. Since that time my cup has slowly been filled and is now flowing over the brim with love. Simultaneously, while seeking humility and significance, I lost pride and prominence. In the meantime, I became debt-free and have a high six-figure net worth.

"During those seven years I have had several mottoes. Probably the most significant one is: If you are not loving life, you are not living love."

Some advice just rings true. The wise will follow.

From Lifesupport.