I'm sure we have all heard the prime minister utter the following words in one form or another: "Please understand that I'm trying to do what's best for the country. Just trust me and let me get on with doing my job."
On many occasions we see him forcefully directing these comments at shell-shocked reporters who have dared to ask searching and poignant questions that require the trained response of a seasoned political operator — something which he obviously is not.
This is no surprise.
As army chief and head of the NCPO his every command is to be adhered to without a second thought, because questioning a superior officer when he's given you a direct order is tantamount to committing military heresy.
However, as a "retired" army general and coup leader who has been anointed prime minister by a coup-installed assembly, he has frustratingly seen his once-unquestioned authority being challenged by pesky reporters and rebellious students.
My first advice to the prime minster would be to stop asking for people's trust, because he simply won't get it. What he should do is work tirelessly to earn that trust.
I must admit, it will be a huge mountain to climb because by seizing power via a military coup he has automatically aroused the suspicions of those with diehard democratic tendencies.
He should realise that trust is a vital element of any well-functioning family unit, but in a country of 67 million people, blindly trusting those in power can lead to disastrous consequences.
In fact, in modern societies a healthy distrust of government is actually the best immunisation against corrupt practices and the irresponsible use of power.
Unwarranted trust and blind faith is the enemy of reason and the antithesis of critical thinking, which are both essential for an informed society.
In a large country like Thailand, you cannot survive on trust alone. We must encourage reasoned inquisition and demand that those in power permit us to verify their claims.
I'm a staunch believer in the scientific method espoused by Carl Sagan's popular phrase that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence".
Imagine you went to a surgeon because you required a triple heart bypass, but after asking him to provide you with references and documents for his qualifications, he snapped back and asks you to just trust him.
Wouldn't that cause you grave concern?
With all due respect, I think if the prime minister slightly adjusted his own attitude toward the voices of dissent and accepted sensible inquiry by providing verification for some of the claims he is making, he might eventually find the "Doubting Thomas" in many people start to open up to some of his suggestions.
My second piece of advice to the prime minister would be to start viewing those resisting this military regime, especially students in our universities, not as sworn enemies but as potential allies.
We were all students once, and surely we remember those days when we were young, where our actions were governed by a higher purpose and our worldview coloured by ideological fervour.
The prime minister will surely not want to be remembered as the person responsible for blighting the bright futures of protesting 17-year-olds by throwing them in jail for flashing three-finger salutes or for disseminating critical flyers.
I think deep down, the military regime fears that if rebelling students are completely shut out of the reform process they will slowly grow into a potent force for resistance, as we have seen before in Thai history.
Moreover, if this eventually gathers critical momentum, in this day and age even the junta will find it hard to suppress their cries for their opinions to be taken into account.
That's why we have seen measures by the National Reform Council to include students in the discussion of reform.
But in my view this will not suffice.
Prime Minister Prayuth should go further in order to prevent a brewing student revolt. These students are the country's future.
After all, they will be the ones who will be governed under this new constitution and, in the long term, the ones who will be our future leaders and lawmakers who will pass laws under it.
The junta should embrace students in our reform process, and the prime minister should personally host televised public forums within universities with his cast iron guarantee of amnesty for all participants from the harsh confines of martial law during such events.
I think this is a reasonable approach that would satisfy his security concerns while allowing students to participate in determining the future of their country.
If I were the prime minister I would prefer to go down in history as the general who freed his people, rather than the general who oppressed them.
Given the choice, why be a General Augusto Pinochet, when you could be a General George Washington?
But that's just my personal opinion.
Songkran Grachangnetara is an entrepreneur. He graduated from The London School of Economics and Columbia University. He can be reached on Twitter: @SongkranTalk.