No matter what you want to achieve in life, it’s easy to dream about a path to success. Though when faced with the reality most learn that reaching success is nowhere near “easy.” You’ve got a lot to learn, no matter who you are. Smart people try to learn from others and read how-to information to help them accelerate their learning process, and prevent unnecessary, time-consuming mistakes. We all learn and grow from our mistakes, but the smarter ones learn from other people’s mistakes. (And successes.)
In our current digital age, where anyone can become a publisher, “How-To” content populates the web at an accelerating rate (often by people who try to replicate what others have already said). So how do you know which content is really trustworthy and produced by the people who’ve really learned the lessons they are teaching? How do you know those people don’t just talk the talk, but really walk the walk?
The larger the success you want to achieve, the greater the challenges you should expect on your journey toward it. When assessing the legitimacy of a source for information, always ask critical questions about the content. Here are two things you should do first:
- Find out as much as you can about who produced the content. Learn her background and experience. Look for some evidence that proves the author practices what she preaches.
- Read between the lines to see what is the REAL intention of the author. Sometimes the author has the credibility, but his intent with the content is negative. For example, in the years leading to 2008 when the global financial markets were about to enter one of the largest crashes in history, Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke (who had high credibility at the time) advised people to “buy in.” Those that followed their advice were burned badly, and many people were blinded by their credibility. On the other hand, we should also be fair to the people who contribute meaning to the world. It is reasonable for an author to gain something in return for the content he contributes, but his content should always provide insights and value, not mislead people toward scary “doom-and-gloom” scenarios designed to make them a fast buck, like the example above.
Once you learn to practice these two approaches, it will become second nature, and you’ll find more and more reliable content to help you learn more and find the right path on your unique journey toward success.
Today, with so much information at our fingertips, being a smart person looking for content to learn from is good, but you also want to be wise enough to assess the quality of the information you’re looking at to make sure it’s credible, and reliable. I hope this article is helpful. If you know of someone who “walks the walk,” who is producing and sharing helpful content related to our topics that is meaningful, please introduce them to us. We will interview and if they qualify we will make space for them on GoldTrain.com. Thanks!