Hi I’m, Gus. I hold an M.Sc. diploma in telecommunication and engineering. I am also certified by ICF as a coach. Separately, have professional massage qualifications, professional leadership and managerial qualifications, over 20 years of software engineering experience, 10 years of experience in working with various biological health hazards (as a volunteer), a few diplomas and courses in integrated medicine. Furthermore, I am chairman of 2 charities, a head of engineering, been trained by Samaritans for suicide response, I know first aid, judo, have practical experience with vagus nerve therapy, aromatherapy, and acupuncture. I also needed to gain a lot of knowledge on OCD, schizophrenia, child epilepsy, ADHD, Lyme disease, and autism. Mainly, how to treat or maintain them (for myself and for my close family members). I would definitely not call myself a layperson on many things. I would also not call myself an expert. I just LOVE to learn. Nevertheless.

It begs to open up a question: Why on earth have you decided to learn all of these extra things? Are you crazy? Don’t you know that most of these won’t bring you any money? How do you find the time to do it?

In a world where information is abundant and trust is paramount, we often rely on certifications and authority as markers of competence and trust external voices to guide us. However, beneath the veneer of credibility, there exists a deceptive meaning that warrants closer examination.

Just getting an MD diploma, a certification in software engineering or getting elected to the parliament, does not mean you all of a sudden (like a god-send) gain lots of experience on every topic. It does not mean you should be trusted. And, especially not, if you are being paid by a third party for what you say. Even working on something for 50+ years isn’t a guarantee that what you say is actually true.

Would you trust a car brand ad, presented by a researcher with 50 years of experience, employed by the car brand, telling you there isn’t a safer car in the world? I wouldn’t.

It also gets worse. Not only you can’t trust people with a certification, but the world is heading towards hearing out more those who have the ‘likes’. More ‘online views’. Who ‘best-sell’.

So in simple words, if I would show my ass to the whole world for 12 months straight, got 12mln followers and then asked them to buy a specific product … I get more chances to sell it, even if an expert, who is using these products every day, advises against it (but has no followers).

I was faced with this world myself. Likewise, I’ve been taught initially, mainly, by the mainstream. How to take care of my health. What’s the best way to manage people. Why to only use microservices (an internal software engineering joke). How to be a good husband and father. And many more. After all of my experiences, it feels pretty safe to say: most of it was sponsored bullshit. In many cases harmful bullshit.

The common theme is: most of that mainstream advice comes from sources extremely willing to appear as credible. People with diplomas, certifications, years of experience, professional medical practitioners. Or film stars, YouTube influencers, best-selling book writers, even … (I can’t stop laughing at this one) famous politicians. The list is long.

It took me a while to see that they just want to earn a living. And will say anything that they will be paid for. It was a very sad and hurtful truth to learn.

What that meant in practice is that I needed to start looking on my own. And needed to learn a lot. It did not necessarily mean that everything they said was totally false. But without my own journey, it would be very hard for me to form any sort of filter on which advice is worth to listen to and which one isn’t.

The journey to finding your own answers, creating your own views and your own reality filters is hard. At least relatively harder than just following some sponsored advice. You make mistakes.

The benefits can be many, and I will continue to encourage you to enlighten yourself this way. In any topic you wish. Never allow yourself to be demotivated by anyone or anything.

(And sorry: my definition of enlightenment has little to do with any sort of religious enlightenment; So if you are expecting to be all-knowing, maybe it’s better if you don’t start 😉 )