Career advice: is it ever a good idea?

I'm not much of a fan of advice. Mostly this is because, when people offer it to me, it's likely to involve me doing something I don't enjoy or stopping something that I do (swapping to decaf coffee falls neatly into both categories; I had a headache for a week and I forgot how to spell). However, in the great tradition of aged relatives across the world, I'm not going to let my dislike of receiving advice stop me from giving it. Or, to be more accurate, passing on advice from other people. That's journalism for you.

1. Treat your start-up like a big business from the beginning. Sure, at the moment it's you and a computer on your kitchen table, but that's no excuse for a slipshod structure. Get in proper accountants, good lawyers and the best advisers you can afford as soon as you set up, says Fred Carl Jr, the founder and CEO of Viking Range, in Harvard Business Review. (I haven't followed this advice. I don't even have an accountant.)

2. "If you never fail, you're not trying enough stuff". Jan Davis, the president and CEO of ShopperTrak, seems to be telling uncbusiness that people who stay within their comfort zones don't get ahead, or at least not far enough ahead to be interviewed by business magazines. (I can certainly tick the failing at things box, though admittedly a good few of the things I've failed at have been the result of enthusiastic signing-up followed by the gradual seep of procrastinatory reality. In other words, I've failed at stuff that I've never actually got around to trying.)

3. "Act powerful and you become powerful. Teach your murmuring voice to howl." Frighteningly, some people mean this literally. Strategy+business reports that some shy managers in need of a little self-confidence are sent to "wolf school", where they are encouraged to holler their ideas directly into the faces of more important people. This idea would, of course, be filed in the loopy bin were it not for its pleasing denial of the fashion for authentic leadership: author Harriet Rubin writes that many leaders are at their strongest not when they're being themselves but when they're playing a part. As someone whose career is based on a mixture of winging it, trying it on and hoping desperately that glasses make me look more intelligent, I'm pleased to hear that faking it (sorry, "playing a character") is a legitimate management technique.

4. Avoid getting caught. "Maintain your credibility at all costs", Management Today advises readers who want to make it to the top. "Avoid being in a position where you can be caught out." The magazine suggests that people use their authority to change the subject or postpone the meeting should an awkward topic arise; makes sense for those who are in authority but somewhat trickier for the rest of us. It doesn't go down well in job interviews, either.

5. "To have more, you might have to have less." Marci Alboher, a writer/teacher/speaker sees a slash future for workers, she tells BusinessWeek. Not in a slash fiction/gay sex with Star Trek characters way but in a multi-job way whereby we all become accountants/pilates teachers or corporate lawyers/massage therapists. This mix-and-match approach to work will allow us to live happy, fulfilled and balanced lives (cue lambs gambolling in fields and children gazing sweetly at their non-exhausted parents) but comes with a slight downside in the form of never becoming CEO. "You may not get to the highest rung on the corporate ladder if you want to follow other pursuits,"  she says. Not that that matters; those grapes looked really sour.