Don't Take No Wooden Nickels...

... cause they won't spend.

The words of a friend's father, and -- in all seriousness -- just maybe some advice we all need.

Don't take too much bull from your partners, friends, or just about anyone. You won't get anything in return but a headache and maybe the warm, fleeting glow of a burning bridge. Can't buy any metaphorical thing with a bunch of guff.

Don't take a job that looks good on paper but doesn't really offer you space to be creative, advance your career, or allow you to achieve your end game. It won't fulfill you; ultimately, that nickel won't spend.

Don't let someone else, anyone else, decide what your value is. Accept what someone else has decided you're worth and there is a very, very small (read: minute) chance that you will ever get what you actually deserve.

You have to tell them what you're worth. And if they don't get it, someone else will.

Examine your nickels, turn them over in your hands, appraise them really close. The wooden ones won't spend, but they don't feel the same anyway, something's off, so you always knew you couldn't really cash them in.