I’m all about personal development and learning from others. However, we want to be prudent about the content we are consuming and who we are taking advice from. I believe we receive wisdom from the experiences of others, but remember that the Holy Spirit in you can give you supernatural insight as well (see below for scripture that supports both). That said, it is always helpful to get information without having to walk through an experience first hand! So here’s five tips for filtering the information you consume!

1️⃣The person should be where you want to be. Do not follow someone blindly because they are an “expert” and don’t take advice from someone who is only teaching about an idea. Make sure they have actually walked through what you were walking through in order to get where you are trying to go. Otherwise, it’s like trying to take a boat to the peak of the mountain. It just doesn’t make sense.
🚨You want to make sure they know first hand what it feels like and looks like to navigate the journey.

2️⃣The person should be speaking God’s truth. It does not necessarily mean that they have to be a believer, but what they are teaching needs to align with God’s word and not contradict it if they are not of Christian faith. Ideally week to consume from those who will share through the filter of faith, but unfortunately, sometimes it’s hard to find experts with this practice.
🚨You want to listen to a voice that aligns with the Lord’s best for you.

3️⃣The person should be acting in alignment with your core values. If something that they are teaching feels out of alignment with your values, it’s a good sign that you don’t need to consume what they teach/offer/share. The things that they are asking you to implement should be from the same core values as your own so that priority is given to the correct places. Sure, you can get results from certain inputs, but at what cost?
🚨You want to strengthen things in your mind and habit practices that build into your values.

4️⃣The person should be qualified to share about what they are teaching. Whether it’s a credential or life experience, there should be sound evidence that they are speaking from a place of knowledge and wisdom.
🚨You want to implement principles that yield expected outcomes by taking their advice.

5️⃣The person should make you feel inspired and encouraged. If you don’t feel empowered by or renewed by the content, don’t consume it. Negative thoughts or ideas about it yourself are not going to serve you. A lot of people think they can guilt or shame themselves into improvement and it is not the case. This kind of “motivation” is not helpful.
🚨You want to feel like their is hope in your undertaking so that you believe in yourself to accomplish it.

P.S. I recently joined the she works His way community and cannot recommend it more highly if you want to plug in with growth God’s way! They also have a free app with daily devos!

Reader Questions:
1/ Which of these tips sounds the most helpful to you?
2/ What’s your best tip for filtering the content you consume? Let us know below so we can add it to our arsenal!👇🏼

Do you struggle with finding good material to consume? Please feel free to reach out to me directly here if you prefer to discuss things privately! Or, if you just want to schedule a call or jump into 1:1 coaching, you can do that too!

Are you ready? Let’s get growing!

|Kaci