Are you full of shit?

Are you full of shit?

Two concepts worthwhile remembering are Cunningham’s Law and the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Cunningham’s Law states, “The best way to get the answer on the internet is not to post a question, it’s to post the wrong answer.”

And the Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people overestimate their cognitive ability. Or more aggressively, dumb people are too stupid to know they’re dumb.

A good way to test if you’re full of shit is to take advantage of both of them at the same time.

If you’re not sure about something. Or if you think you may be guilty of thinking you’re more of a hot shot than you are, share your work.

With the help of Cunningham’s Law, people will tell you where it’s wrong. This help from others can also provide an antidote to the Dunning-Kruger effect. Perhaps, your work may not have been as good as you thought. This is okay though, you can always improve.

Now you have to take the feedback and advice from others with a grain of salt. Remember, their worldview is different to yours. Outlandish feedback from one person shouldn’t effect you as much as the consensus. If the consensus is all outlandish, you’re either a genius, ahead of your time and the feedback is outlandish because no one understands your work, yet. On the other hand, you may be getting high on your own supply. In which case, you should review your next course of action.

I’ve experienced both sides of this coin. And despite my best attempts at reviewing my work, thinking about how I think, the scores for each are neck a neck.