A Grain of Salt

Nearly a year and a half ago is when I began my attempt to “break into the tech world.” To do that, I hustled, networked, whatever you want to call it by talking to hundreds and hundreds of people.

“Networking” is something I think can really help you level up. It is not necessary, but it is one of the best ways to accelerate growth. People can help you do incredible things.

I am about to talk about contrary thought to that which is stop listening to people. Well not entirely.

Most people have good intentions. There are some people who are just trying to sell you something so you can outright ignore them most of the time — but most people genuinely like to help.

Right?

Kinda?

In talking to hundreds and hundreds of people I learned a ton about the way people think. I asked them questions. Listened. Sat quietly.

I wanted to know how smart people thought. I wanted to understand people. More importantly, I wanted to understand why people were they way they were.

This led me to a few key insights:

- Ego

People like to talk about themselves. I do too. It is a quality native to most humans that I interact with.

- Hindsight

People often give you advice with hindsight bias in it.

Hindsight bias, also known as the knew-it-all-along effect or creeping determinism, is the inclination, after an event has occurred, to see the event as having been predictable, despite there having been little or no objective basis for predicting it.

They may mean well — but this advice is not very useful.

At the end of the day, it is up to you to execute on whatever advice or path you choose. No one can do that for you.

Originally published at gonen.blog.