Eight Pieces of Advice from My Sister, the Sage.

My sister Elizabeth Craft is a sage. Every time I talk to her, I keep a pen and paper handy so I can write down her words of wisdom. I quote her constantly. She's a TV-writer in Los Angeles (now writing for The Vampire Diaries), so that gives a certain flavor to her advice, but many of her observations are more universal than they appear at first glance. Here's an assortment of some of my recent favorite lines:

1. When I was fretting because I hadn't heard back about a proposal, she told me, “'Yes' comes right away; 'no' never comes." This observation turns out to be true in a very wide variety of situations.

2. "Everyone who moves from New York to L.A. gains ten pounds, because they’re doing so much less walking."

3. “Your lack of planning is not my emergency.” Okay, she didn't make that up, but she quoted it to me, and it's a great line.

4. “No one has an opinion until someone else has an opinion.” This is so, so, so true.

5. "Every cliché you’ve heard about L.A. is more true than you could possibly imagine."

6. When I was considering doing a project in collaboration with someone else, and was fretting because I hadn't received a commitment right away, she advised: “Move on to another potential partner. You need volunteers, not recruits.”

7. "If you move to L.A. to get a job writing for TV, don’t expect to get a job for the first three years."

8. When I was fussing about something related to my book publication, she said: “Remember, this is what you wanted.” This reminder comes in handy more often than you'd think.

Now, she ain't the Buddha, but she has really helped me think more clearly and productively in a lot of situations.

I recently bullied encouraged her to start using Twitter, so follow her @elizabethcraft.

It's very handy to have a sister who is a sage. What words of advice have you received from your sister or brother -- or anyone else?

* My friend Chris Guillebeau's new book just hit the shelves: The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World. The subtitle says it all! And Chris really practices what he preaches.

* It’s Word-of-Mouth Day, when I gently encourage (or, you might think, pester) you to spread the word about the Happiness Project. You might:
-- Forward the link to someone you think would be interested
-- Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @gretchenrubin)
-- Sign up for my free monthly newsletter (about 49,000 people get it)
-- Buy the book
-- Watch the one-minute book video
Thanks! I really appreciate any help. Word of mouth is the BEST.