How to give good advice

At some point in time, everyone is going to get asked for advice. Some people are never quite sure what to say when their friends come to them with problems, but its actually quite simple to give your friends good advice, even when you wouldn't know what to do if you were in that situation yourself.                                                                                                                                                                                        
                                                                
                                                        Steps to live by,
                                                     When giving others advice

1. The first step to giving good advice, is just to listen. Listen to your friends problems, don't ask any questions or judge them for their situation. Just listen.
2. As you listen to their advice, briefly think about the situation, and how the other people involved have been affected. When you actually begin to advise your friend on what to do, you'll have to keep everyone's best interest in mind, and not just your friend's.
3. Ask them how they're feeling, you'll find that sometimes the actual advice that you give isn't really what your friend is looking for. They may think that they need advice, when they really already know what to do, and they just need to know that somebody's on their side.Tell them all the things that they did right in their situation, telling them this will make them feel as though you really are on their side, and if they feel this way, they'll actually listen to the advice you tell them
4. Tell them what you would do if you had been them. But then quickly make them laugh afterwards. Cause chances are, the things that you would do would be better than what they did, cause you had a longer time to think about it and you weren't in the heat of the moment when you were making your decision. So it will make them feel inferior and stupid to hear how their friend knew what to do, better than they did themselves. So by making them laugh afterwards, it will take their minds off of feeling inferior, and make them more lighthearted. 
5. Point out the flaws in what they did in their situation. Then point out the flaws in what you said you would do in their situation. Then point out the strong points of both what they and you would do.
6. Think again about the other people involved, and then considering them and your friend, tell your friend to do a combination of continuing to do the good things that they did, and what you would do.
7. This advice may not always work out for your friend, but if you give your friend advice by using this order of events, it will help your friend feel better. And in a lot of situations the advice isn't half as important as making your friend feel better.