AUTHOR: NOAH MURAD

In Thinking Fast and Slow Kahneman explains that our mind is always lightening its workload by creating shortcuts. When confronted with a difficult question, we change the question subconsciously without realizing it. For example, “Do I want to buy stock in Ford Motor Company?” turns to “Do I like Ford Cars?”.

When we meet a professional, read a news article, or talk to someone experienced, we want to ask ourselves the tough questions: “what makes this person an authority here?” This is more difficult to answer than “Do I like this person?” or “What does this person have on their resume?”. Many degrees, or certificates, make us feel really good about the authority of the opinion we’re being given.

Consider that most people change careers several times in their life. The article you read giving you medical or health advice could be written by someone who, in the long run, realized that farming or working on a food truck was actually their calling. It makes you second guess the advice you take.

Before listening to other authority figures, follow Nassim Nicholas Taleb: Ask yourself what they stand to gain or lose with the advice. If they have no skin in the game, then, qualifications aside, it’s probably not advice you should follow.