Friday Poll: What's the Best Advice Your Dad Ever Gave You?

    • 1373 posts
    June 17, 2010 11:35 PM PDT

    Happy Friday, everyone!

    Since this weekend is Father's Day, we thought that for this week's poll question, it would be only appropriate to ask:

    What's the best piece of advice your dad ever gave you?

    Looking forward to reading your replies!

    . . . and to all our members who are dads,

    Happy Father's Day!

    • 14 posts
    June 18, 2010 4:58 AM PDT
    I am sure there will be some great posts on this one!

    My father told me...

    "Fletcher, get out and work AT YOUR BUSINESS, and NOT in it!" Charles Ford passed in 2004.

    I also have a great mentor in my life that forces me to focus on my family before everything, and has taught me many things. Randal Miller, a great one!
    • 21 posts
    June 18, 2010 6:49 AM PDT
    My dad is not the type of person to give advice (my mother over compensates for him!) what my dad has done for me is shown a great example of work ethic I cannot remember ever my dad ever complaining about having to work he showed me what it was to be responsible and take care of family and for that matter business.
    • 1 posts
    June 18, 2010 6:54 AM PDT
    Daddy would tell me, and he had to say it more than once...
    "Leanne, it's hard to soar like and eagle when you're running with a bunch of turkeys!"
    • 73 posts
    June 18, 2010 8:02 AM PDT
    I lost my dad in a car wreck when I was just ten years old. My high school band director was pretty much my surrogate father. His best advice to me was "be a generalist, not a specialist." He taught me to have an open mind about music; that all music has something to offer. I carried those words with me when I began my career in radio. I knew what I wanted to do but I grabbed each opportunity. It made me a better person and a better broadcaster.

    Roger Hartsook in Emporia, KS
    • 14 posts
    June 18, 2010 8:05 AM PDT
    Well, Angie Balderas and I are not brother and sister...we don't even have any idea who the other one is...but my answer is basically identicle...my one addition would be my dad telling me to "never work, bank or spend on anticipated income".
    • 21 posts
    June 18, 2010 8:15 AM PDT
    AMEN!!! My dad never made more than $2500 a month and has two houses paid off...money in the bank raised 3 kids and receives a retirement in excess of what he ever made imagine that!!!
  • June 18, 2010 8:20 AM PDT
    My father told me you can choose to be anything in your life, good or bad, as long as you are willing to accept the consequences of your actions.

    The best advice my mentor gave me was this. Advertising is hard to sell. Nobody wants to buy any advertising. Ideas, however, sell themselves.
    • 41 posts
    June 18, 2010 8:34 AM PDT
    Whenever I think of my dad, the first word that comes to mind is generous. He so often gives his time, money, and advice to others to help them out. By his example, he’s taught me what it means to be gracious.

    One of the pieces of wisdom he passed along to me during my teenage years was that I shouldn’t doubt my abilities to make good decisions; he helped me to acquire some self-confidence.

    I’ll always be grateful that the Lord blessed me with the father I have – he and my mother are largely responsible for who I am today.

    Happy Father’s Day, Dad!
    • 455 posts
    June 18, 2010 8:44 AM PDT
    I was blessed to have a Dad that was an extremely hard worker...but he also knew that at some point you had to give your time, talent, and energy to more important things in life. His realistic saying was, "I don't care how long you stay or how much you get done, there will still be plenty to do tomorrow."
    • 7 posts
    June 18, 2010 8:48 AM PDT
    "He who hesitates is lost."
    • 1373 posts
    June 18, 2010 9:20 AM PDT
    Wow, I wish there was a "like" button to hit for all of these replies! Thanks for sharing, everyone.

    I have to agree with my sister Heather; I think we have the best dad ever.

    Over the years, he's given me a lot of good advice, but one piece that has stuck with me and guided me through many difficult decisions is, "Go with what you know, not with what you don't know."

    Happy Father's Day, Dad!
  • June 18, 2010 2:25 PM PDT
    I am absolutely blessed to still have my dad with me. He is 90 years old and still pastors, works in the yard and drives anywhere he wants to go. I grew up an only child so I had his and my mom's attention MOST times on a continuous basis. Dad always told me to do my best at whatever I do. If I am a street sweeper, sweep the street so good that nobody born or unborn could compare. He told me to always let my nay be nay and my ye be ye. Your word takes on meaning when you say what you mean and mean what you say. And the last thing I would like to share is he tells me daily to always take care of your body and when you get up in age it will take care of you. Nobody ever believes he is actually 90 because he looks much younger.

    I love you DAD!!!!
  • June 21, 2010 5:33 PM PDT
    My dad is a Marine (retired). His best advice is to do everything you do with honor. My brain was too alcohol soaked during the 70's to fully comprhend what that meant. Today I know that what that means is "do everything that you do in proivate as if you were in public, and be able to stand up to whatever action that comes". Oh one other.... "Are you going to feed that dog or let it die of starvation?"
  • June 17, 2013 10:43 AM PDT

    For some strange reason, the older I get, the smarter my late dad becomes.  One thing he told me that I have found to be 100% correct is what he called "The Three 'L's of Love."  "Ladies Love Lobsters."  He was correct about that, and it has never failed me.

    Sadly, he died when I was 19, so I couldn't really speak with him adult-to-adult...I would have liked to know more about the F4U Corsair he flew in the Marines in WW2, of course; my dad was also a born salesman, and his insight would have been useful to me once I got out "on the street."