Their World Is Not Ours: When Experience Becomes Advice

At what point does sharing your experience become telling someone else how they should live? In my recent video, I told the story of a decision my mother made when I chose to attend the University of Tampa. She knew my choice could create financial difficulties. She knew I had other opportunities. And she knew that if she told me to choose another school, I probably would have listened. But she also knew what it felt like to have the direction of her own education changed by circumstances outside of her control. So she made a deliberate choice: She would give me guidance, but she wouldn’t make the decision for me.

In this companion episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, I want to take that story one step further. As members of Generation X—and simply as people who have accumulated decades of life and professional experience—we have knowledge worth sharing. But Gen Z and Gen Alpha aren’t entering the world we entered.

Their economy is different.

Their educational landscape is different.

Their workplace is different.

Their opportunities are different.

So how do we give younger generations the benefit of what we’ve learned without handing them a roadmap for a world that no longer exists? Maybe the goal isn’t: “Do what I did.” Maybe it’s: “Here’s what I learned. Let’s figure out what still applies to the world you’re navigating.”

🎧 Listen as we explore the difference between experience, advice, influence and allowing the next generation to build a path of its own.

GO DEEPER INTO THE ANTHONY REEVES EXPERIENCE

🎥 Watch the story that inspired this conversation:

https://youtu.be/5mXm809vAOg

Then explore The Anthony Reeves Experience through the links in my profile for additional videos, podcasts, written reflections, resources and deeper conversations. Experience gives us lessons. Wisdom is knowing how to pass them on without requiring someone else to live our life.