There’s too much information online.

A few years ago, I was having some back pain. Like many people, I spent too much time sitting and was feeling older than my age as a result. I had just turned 30, but my back felt 50.

So I went online to search for some exercises to strengthen my back. One of the first recommendations was the deadlift. A heavy lift which loads the back in a stable, but static position. This was the one to do if you wanted a strong back, I read.

Great. I would start doing deadlifts. Next step: watch a form tutorial to learn the finer points of technique. 30 seconds into the video, a disclaimer.

“Do not attempt if you ever experience back pain”.

Well shit.

Which is it? Is the deadlift going to make or break my back?

I’m sure you’ve had a similar scenario recently. Two seemingly incompatible viewpoints on a topic— and no idea which to trust. Increasingly common in this highly polarized information age we live in.

My advice:

Trust nothing. Test everything.

Test Everything.

Experience is the the best teacher.

In fact, there’s really nothing else.

With everything I put out online, I endeavor to share my genuine experiences. I aim to provide information that I find useful, in hopes that it’s useful for you.

But I cannot know whether what has worked for me will work for you. What I’ve seen work for others may not work for you. What worked in a scientific study may not work for you.

No matter how much we expect something to happen, or how many times it has happened for other people in the past: it does not guarantee that it will happen the same way for you.

Only through testing can we know the real outcome. Only through testing can we acquire real, precise knowledge.

Statements I make about me are real. Statements I make about you are not (without actually knowing you). They’re guesses. Assumptions. Generalizations. Projections.

Increase your R&D Budget

All ideas must be tested by us personally.

Testing has two consequences:

1. We learn a specific truth about the idea, in the context in which we test it.

2. We acquire the results of the test (benefits, gains, rewards, consequences)

We acquire data on the topic for future application. Even more importantly — we take real action in the world and reap the results —good or bad. We gain strength, or we get the injury. We grow our business, or we lose some time.

Testing takes time. Testing involves risk. There’s always an opportunity cost when you test something new instead of doing what you’ve always done. But it’s the only way to make changes, see results, and iterate over time.

This is one of the secrets to Tesla Motors’ success: an outsized R&D budget.

By focusing on trying new things, testing them, and implementing them into existing systems, Tesla has been able to make phenomenal advances in electric vehicles.

Why not make the product as good as possible, when the product is you?

Increasing your R&D budget means spending your own time and resources to test ideas that you come across. It means verifying things you hear online personally. It means developing your own perspective through thoughtful experience.

It is not easy, but it is necessary. The alternative is to live your life based on assumptions; to base your beliefs in other people’s beliefs, instead of in your own experience.

Live your own reality, not someone else’s.

All Perspectives are Limited

When I share my perspective on an issue, realize that it is limited. It’s molded by my

• experiences

• biases

• worldview

• mindset

• judgment

• goals.

So is yours. So is everyone’s. We can disagree, without one of us being ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Reality is seldom black and white.

If you stood in the same place as them, you’d see a very similar picture to what they see. Maybe, just maybe, the person on the other end isn’t an idiot; they just have different information than you, and observed different things than you did.

Be skeptical of others’ conclusions, not their motives.

The former will make you smarter, the latter will make you angry.

Once we understand that all perspectives are limited, the imperative is to find the value in other’s perspectives, and incorporate it into your own.

Develop Your Own Perspective

Improving your perspective means finding nuggets of truth in other perspective, and adding them to your own.

Look at problems, ideas, and concepts from different angles to reveal aspects that were previously hidden.

In practice, this means daydreaming and contemplating in your life. Discussing ideas with those around you, and consuming ideas online from multiple perspectives. And then testing them to see which ideas bring value to your perspective— to your life.

Do not be afraid to have your own perspective. Do not be afraid to hear your own voice.

It’s refreshing to see comments on social media that reflect a person’s genuine perspective and experience. Too often people just parrot statements they heard elsewhere, but did not verify—

• “But Authority X said this.”

• “But the science says this.”

• “But God tells us this.”

If you haven’t experienced it yourself, all those statements are logically equivalent. They hold equal weight. An appeal to authority is an act of blind faith.

Develop your own opinions through experience before sharing it with others. They’ll appreciate you for it.

Perspectives Evolve With Time

Through experimentation and learning, we grow.

We cannot grow without changing our minds.

As you grow, your perspective, and you’d give to others, will also change. This is normal. If you don’t change your mind, you aren’t learning.

Think of all the cringe-worthy views you had 5 years ago that you’ve outgrown. Can’t think of any? This should concern you.

In another 5 years, you’ll have different positions and stances than you do now. That is not a contradiction. That is a real human being— journeying through life and adapting along the way.

That childhood friend who says ‘you’ve changed’.

This is not an insult. It’s the highest compliment.

Your perspective will never be complete. Paradoxically, only by striving to complete it can you fill in its holes.

This is why dogma is so dangerous: it puts certain ideas or facts on pedestals that cannot be touched or changed. In a search for truth and growth, dogma paralyzes.

How to Find Signal in the Noise

1. Trust Nothing. Test everything.

2. Increase your R&D Budget.

3. Treat all perspectives as incomplete (especially your own).

4. Absorb truth from other perspectives.

5. Embrace perspective growth.

Thanks for reading — to explore this topic from a different angle, watch this video from my YT channel.

Have a great week.

-John