This is an extension of a comment I made that I can't find and also a request for examples. It seems plausible that, when giving advice, many people optimize for deepness or punchiness of the advice rather than for actual practical value. There may be good reasons to do this - e.g. advice that sounds deep or punchy might be more likely to be listened to - but as a corollary, there could be valuable advice that people generally don't give because it doesn't sound deep or punchy. Let's call this boring advice.
An example that's been discussed on LW several times is "make checklists." Checklists are great. We should totally make checklists. But "make checklists" is not a deep or punchy thing to say. Other examples include "google things" and "exercise."
I would like people to use this thread to post other examples of boring advice. If you can, provide evidence and/or a plausible argument that your boring advice actually is useful, but I would prefer that you err on the side of boring but not necessarily useful in the name of more thoroughly searching a plausibly under-searched part of advicespace.
Upvotes on advice posted in this thread should be based on your estimate of the usefulness of the advice; in particular, please do not vote up advice just because it sounds deep or punchy.
Nicotine patches seem to often contain latex, explaining your skin irritation, but the one gum I found docs on the issue, Nicorette, specifically says there is no latex in it.
I also wonder why you'd find e-cigs harsh - I was under the impression they were just water and nicotine and possibly a suspension like glycerol, which seem much milder and less irritating than the witch's brew of tobacco smoke.
Either way, I'm not putting the gum in my mouth. Teaching myself to ignore the warning signs that could lead to my throat closing up doesn't seem like a good idea. :-)
Lozenges are okay, albeit expensive. My favorite nicotine delivery system - although hard to find - is actually dissolving strips that stick to the roof of your mouth. (The only brand I've found thus far is NicoSpan.) Significantly cheaper the way I buy them, around five cents apiece compared to forty for the lozenges - I grab them on discount when they're near the expiration date. Only... (read more)