“Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it” - Steven Wright
Updated: Nov 4, 2022
When we lack experience within a certain area we tend to listen to advice and people of supposed “expertise”. Knowing who is a good source of information requires you to develop discernment.
Your obstacles to developing discernment will be specific to YOU, but here are some questions to help you distinguish a good solid source of information from a less useful one.
What are their values/what motivates them? This will most likely be found when you’ve observed someone over a period of time. There will be a recurring theme of what they’re all about. We want to make sure to listen to people that are motivated by DOING THE RIGHT THING over anything else. That level of integrity will reduce their own selfish motives and increase the value of what they do and the information they provide.
How truthful are they? As the point above suggests, we want to listen to sources that are dedicated to truth. This is true in the scientific area as well as in our personal sphere. Useful sources of information will have enough self-awareness and integrity to be open-minded and open to new input. They won’t be afraid to admit where they might be wrong or have been wrong in the past.
How attached is the source to their own view/opinion? Although these sources will likely disregard information that they deem to be “false”, they won’t spend any time judging this information as they're not attached to the "idea of being right" but sees that as a waste of time. If they find evidence that they have been wrong, they will adjust their view to what they consider to be a"more true" one. (Though these adjustments are usually small and still occur within the main theme.)
When having applied what they’ve suggested - what has your personal experience been? Even if someone seems to be a person of high integrity we don’t want to be naive. Instead, we want to investigate what they’ve said by applying the information and evaluating the usefulness of the information from the results we get. (When evaluating the results we need to be careful so that we don’t trick ourselves by being too comfortable. Did we really follow their instructions or did we take any shortcuts?)
How much faith do they have in YOU? I.e. in your capacity to know and understand what they know as well as in your capability overall? Any good role model or advice will share information with the intention for you to come to your own conclusions by direct experience. They want you to trust yourself and thereby find the answer within. They won’t do so because that’s what they’re “supposed to”, but because they truly believe that you’re a capable human being with the capacity to know what they know.
Questions for you: As far as you can tell, how well do your current sources of information comply with these points above? If not well or not at all, where could you find better advice or input? How well are you aligned with your own sense of truth and integrity?
I became a Certified Professional Coach because I’m fascinated by what makes our reality what it is, as everyone perceives the world differently based on their level of consciousness and previous experiences. My mission is to help more people lead with authenticity & in that way contribute to making the world a more conscious place.
The coaching process I base my work on is the one taught by the renowned coaching training of iPEC, considered in 2022 to provide the world's best life coaching training. Read about my services and how I can assist you here.