Post by @mavnn@bonfire.mavnn.eu

I don't know who needs to hear this today, but you're not like everybody else, and the expert advice may not fit you. This brought to you by a reminder I had of talking to one of my son's teachers.

"Don't worry, we've taught plenty of children like your son before!"

When we told the educational psychologist they actually laughed out loud, because the piece of advice that triggered the comment would only be helpful for around 1 in every 5,000 children and would have been actively detrimental to an 'average' pupil his age. 1/2

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Michael Newton

@mavnn 6 mo. ago

Except that none of us are 'average'; humans have enough dimensions that we all have our area of being the odd one out. So... yeah, listen to the experts but if you've tried the advice and it doesn't work? This is today's reminder that nobody is more expert on you than you are. And if you don't trust your own judgement (hey, #ADHD means I do not trust my own judgement) then find a way to measure yourself. Studies are great, and I love science, but they tell you what works for the group. Evidence based studies tell you where to start, not where to stop 2/2

Michael Newton

@mavnn 6 mo. ago

That was the thread, because I've been in a few situations where people needed the reminder recently. But I suppose that there is one more thing to say: don't just assume you're the exception. Evidence based studies are still the place to start where they exist, and experts are still worth listening to especially in areas where there's strong evidence for long term effects you can't easily measure on yourself. Things that 'feel' right aren't always, and being an expert on yourself does not mean ignoring evidence and advice. It means keeping track of when your personal evidence starts diverging from the results that informed the advice you were given.