In 1994, when India’s ex-PM Narasimha Rao addressed the US Congress, he told this story about Mahatma Gandhi:
Once a lady came to Gandhiji and asked him to tell her son to stop eating sugar. Instead of doing what she asked, Gandhiji asked her to come after two weeks.
Two weeks later, when she went back, Gandhiji told her son to stop eating sugar. Perplexed, the lady asked, ‘You could have told him the same thing the last time. Why did you not do that?’
Gandhiji replied, ‘Before asking him to quit sugar, I needed two weeks to see if I could quit sugar.’
When we advise others, we have to also observe our two weeks. Advising is easy. Earning the right to advise is hard.
– Rajan