Advice on Advice

This NY Times article about maximalist running shoes (released earlier this week) was quite popular. This was a little confusing, because it feels like yesterday when we were all told to run barefoot. The amount of conflicting advice that we receive can be overwhelming and even debilitating. It’s only going to become more prevalent as communication becomes easier.

Here is some conflicting advice we’ve received over the past 30 years, which is about .0012% of our existence.

• Listen to those more experienced than you. VS. Be a non-conventional thinker.
• Utilize positive reinforcement. VS. Set high expectations.
• Margarine VS. Butter
• Listen to your customer. VS. The customer doesn’t know what he/she wants.
• The roulette wheel of cancer-causers and cancer-preventers

Some people like the taste of anchovies, some people hate them. Some people like the heat, some like the cold. Can’t these concepts apply elsewhere? Perhaps maximalist running shoes work for some, minimalist work for others, and the remaining levels of cushioning work for the rest. Maybe positive reinforcement works for some and setting high expectations works for others. We as humans like to assign causality, so it’s natural to try to seek a “one size fits all” mentality. In most cases, this doesn’t work.

My advice: Do what works best for you. Except, wait. I just preached about how you should stop listening to advice. I guess we’re all just human!