The advisor I fired was me
On noticing when the voice giving you advice is the one that needs the most.
The most expensive advisor I ever had was the version of me that talked to me in my head between 9pm and midnight. It cost me about a year before I noticed. I have not had to listen to him in a while.
What he sounded like#
Reasonable, mostly. Concerned. Concerned about timing. Concerned about runway. Concerned about whether the last six weeks had been good enough. He never asked whether the work was good. He asked whether the work was enough.
This is the difference between a thoughtful advisor and an anxious one. Thoughtful advisors ask about quality. Anxious ones ask about quantity.
How I fired him#
I started writing down what he said, the next morning, when I was rested. Most of it failed the daylight test. The ones that survived were two sentences out of every page. I kept the two sentences and threw the page away.
Who I listen to now#
Three people who reply to me in writing and one who does not reply at all, and reads what I send and tells me what is missing. None of them are available at 11pm. That is part of why I trust them.