People generally ask for advice when they need validation for something they already know. That is okay, but it limits the extent to which an advice can be helpful.

The real purpose of advice is to help us see what we are missing—by walking around the problem, or looking at it from a different angle. While we are stuck among the tress, advice helps us see the forest.

It’s best that the person who faces the problem comes up with the solution. All I do is help them come up with some ideas, find the missing pieces, and connect the dots. Instead of solving their problems, I try to understand them instead. Therefore, giving advice, like therapy, is more about listening—not speaking.

It’s about asking them to tell us what they see, so that they can...