We live in a world that whenever we have a question, we can have the answer within minutes. We just “google” stuff. Except when our question doesn’t have an objective (e.g. 2 + 2 will always equal to 4) answer. Then, as expected, we may get different answers for the same question.
What happens then? How can we pick the “correct” answer?
Well the truth is that in these cases, there seldom is one (or “a” as the case may be) correct answer. It may instead be the case that all of the answers are correct, or none of them.
One of the most classic questions of this kind for example, is “how to become an entrepreneur” (whatever this word may mean, because it doesn’t mean the same to everyone).
There are two issues here: First of all, what worked for me, may not work for you, as both the environment around us, as we, ourselves, are different from each other.
Secondly, in these cases, you only hear what has worked. It would be interesting to ask about those who didn’t make it. Which were the reasons? It could be the case that someone who failed followed the same strategy as someone who succeeded, further highlighting the first point.
What I am trying to convey here, is that as humans, we want to have clarity, stability and the feeling of safety that these bring to our lives. So we naturally tend to accept as facts, things are merely opinions. This is even worse when the people offering these opinions do this for a living, in which case they will purposefully present their opinions as facts (e.g. my methodology is proven, it has worked for millions of people and it will work for you too).
My math teacher used to tell me that if the test seems too easy, it’s because I’m either brilliant, or too clueless to see the “trap” that would cost me marks in broad daylight. I will leave you with that thought.