Learn to Discern the Forest from the Trees
Recently I’ve been reading posts here about disagreements existing between several so-called web design experts concerning which WordPress plugins to use, and YES although I must admit one can be humored by it all, without investing an appropriate amount of time to conduct your own self-investigation to discover what is “under the hood” such opinions will mean very little.
Naturally we all have our own personal preferences and are not always going to see eye-to-eye; disagreements are inevitable and come with the territory. No matter how knowledgeable we deem the “experts” to be, they are not always right. They are human.
We need a more reliable method of learning and problem-solving. Therefore we must do ONE thing.
Learn to Discern the Forest from the Trees. That is OUR responsibility.
Be your own problem solver. Learn how to trouble-shoot these important issues yourself. Use Uncle Google, social media, and every tool at your disposal to learn a new skill, language, program, etc. from the ground up.
I will use solving WordPress issues as an example, but this can be applied to any problem set you are confronted with.
Aside from WA members, here are sure-fire ways to achieve this:
- Read articles related to the topic in question to obtain solutions.
- Ask other WordPress experts outside of WA how they solved the problem.
- Email the developers of the plugins with questions, it’s in their interest to help you
- Live chat on site hosting platforms and find out what they recommend.
- Create a siterubix test site, try it out. If you fail, no loss, keep trying until something works.
- Get invited onto related social media groups and ask those experts.
- Pick up the latest “WordPress for Dummies” book, and reference the issue.
- Keep questioning until you have irrefutably solved the problem by completing the task
- Recheck your work. Always retest.
This is only a partial list. The list goes on and on.
Yeah it’s all hard work, but there is no substitute for clocking in the hours. And when you achieve the final outstanding result, you will inherently understand how to replicate it over and over again.
Don’t Depend on the Experts
The experts are just like us, they often are well-intentioned but they are not infallible.
While it is wonderful to get the help we need from other more knowledgeable experts, don’t depend on them as their help is not always readily available – and often even when it is, there can be clear defined disagreement among various “experts” and as newbies we end up being confused even more than ever.
Worse yet, there are instances where the advice given by an “expert” plain doesn’t work.
This just happened to me this week when I contacted the developers of a popular, well-reviewed mobile plugin when they claimed to have provided me the proper CSS code to a solution to my problem.
Well, I entered the code properly without any errors and it plain-out failed. I re-contacted the source and explained to them the solution didn’t work. No response from them since.
What I’ve seen here based on the answers in comments and posts are that there are far too many members here who are willing to accept the advice of a well-established veteran “expert” as gospel without proper testing on the basis of their reputation or their ranking.
No matter how reputable the source, don’t accept their solution until you’ve tested it out first-hand yourself and can truly confirm it works. Only then can you give that expert an impartial review.
Always question, always experiment.
Self-Reliance through Open Exchange is the Key
Over the past two months, as a totally “wet behind the ears” newbie to WordPress I have been able to “learn the ropes” all by myself through accessing many different sources - and the result is I have designed a beautiful 25 page website that is optimized and loading lightning fast both on mobile and desktop.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve received helpful advice from very knowledgeable WordPress experts within the WA community, and I am very grateful for that help. However, the help from the Wealthy Affiliate training and experts in WP have been supplemental rather than primary compared to what I’ve learned from my own research. .
This proves you can be totally self-reliant, learn all the best ways to build your own WordPress site using the best themes and the right plugins that work for YOU, and can ultimately learn to discern the forest from the trees.
If I can do this. Certainly anyone can.
Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment.
Cheers,
Kaju
Recent Comments
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You are right, Kaju. I have noticed conflicting information from different people who may not realize that the success of their advice depends sometimes on a number of variables at play on individual sites.
Indeed Tanya, those solutions recommended often will not work based on the number of variables at play on individual sites. That's why we need to dig deeper and learn and discern for ourselves!
Thanks so much again Wildflower:) I have a new YouTube channel where I'm producing great content.
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Send me your YT link and I will Subscribe. You can Subscribe to my channel here:)
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If you don't yet, I will happily return the favor when yours is up.:)
Very, very well said! Experts may also give advise no realizing that an important detail that needs to be considered is missing.
We each need to learn how to research our own questions, discern what our problem actually is and the best solution.
Most of all, we need to learn to be self reliant.
100% correct Sondra, thanks for your excellent input. Self-reliance is an essential trait, and something that can be learned by anyone who has the motivation and drive to succeed.
Always do your own research, regardless what the experts tell you. Only then can we make the best decisions on what is truth or hype, by discovering the best solutions for our own projects.
Yes, great point here Kaju. I agree. The exact same formula is not going to be the best path for everyone here. Most of the basics apply but there are areas where I see things catch on and EVERYONE seems to be using it and I don't jump on board. Then later I see it is no longer relevant and suddenly it is NOT the thing to use. Or, I try it and it doesn't seem to be all that perfect or like you I follow the advice and it doesn't work at all. I am not saying the experts here are usually wrong. They are usually right. They are not right 100% of the time though.
Dig it, Jessica. You can find some excellent helpful tips from the experts, but the key is you need to try out the method recommended yourself and see if it works for you.
Sometimes it will, and other times it won't.
Most information we are advised on or that we read in tutorials should be taken as supplemental, and applied to our sites with other good quality information we have accumulated until we achieve the right balance that works best for us, which in the end is the best solution.
Thank you Marion, I have a test website and I know you have several here on Siterubix (and perhaps elsewhere) - they are essential "playgrounds" to test your new ideas.
Seeing something work by achieving an effective end result, whether it be a new plugin or better way to attract traffic, is what instills confidence.
Thanks for all this great info Kaju and congrats and well done on your site which I look forward to having a peak at soon. xxxx
Thank you Cheryl, as soon as I transfer it over to my new domain (without the siterubix) I will have it on the bottom right of my profile page, where you can get a peek.
Thank you Kaju and nice to see you back on here. Have missed our conversations. i am looking forward to seeing your site. I laugh every time I mention you in your lovely yellow and red clown suit as everyone seems to think I am being serious about it and they do not realise we had laughed about it before. xxxx
Oh definitely Kaju, we never joke about and have a laugh, our conversations are always very serious and business like lol.
Can't be serious all our lives can we, would make us rather boring I think lol. xxxx
That is seeking the authority persons when it comes to issues. If it is WordPress the author of WordPress knows the problem. If not the author the disciple of the author.
So we learn from those who solved the problem from their own experiences and they are the ones called authority in that field.
Absolutely Jimmy, go straight to the authority, and those affiliated with the authority as a second choice. Make sure you record their instructions, then try their recommended solutions on your test site(s).
This is key, because no matter how understandable the instructions, you won't truly be convinced it will work until you see that it "works".
Thanks so much again Phoeby:) I have a new YouTube channel where I'm producing great content.
Check out our great Tokyo story as well as my Efren Reyes match win video play by play:)
Send me your YT link and I will Subscribe. You can Subscribe to my channel here:)
http://bit.ly/2T21P2N
If you don't yet, I will happily return the favor when yours is up.:)
Well said, Kaju, we all need to drill down at times to find those solutions that work for us. Everyone of us have slight variations, on the word press flow, one of the best things is to have that test site and the next best thing is to use it and always be looking for ways to make improvements.
I have learned that having a test site (or two!) is an imperative Alex, we all need to experiment on our sites and see what works or what doesn't work.
In most cases, this requires several FAILURES before we can achieve multiple successes even after reading and understanding various tutorials (true for so many things in life, eh?!)- but having a low-risk test site that we won't worry if we f**k is essential.
Thanks for a very worth comment!
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Yes, so very true, Kaju. Experts (real experts, doing their own thing with great success) can give you such contradictory advice that you may get stuck for a long time. Very often, many things are just matter of preferences, and we, being not experts, become stuck not knowing which direction to follow. The only thing is to learn, if we really want to progress in this or that sphere.:)
Absolutely Vera, what works for one will not necessarily work for another. lean what works for YOU. Amen!