{"id":11136,"date":"2019-09-23T08:36:54","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T16:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/?p=11136"},"modified":"2023-09-09T12:43:11","modified_gmt":"2023-09-09T20:43:11","slug":"thinkers-vs-doers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinkers vs Doers: Who Gives Better Advice?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"334\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/doers-and-thinkers.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11138\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/doers-and-thinkers.png 600w, https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/doers-and-thinkers-300x167.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>What makes someone an expert? The word is often used to refer to two different types of people:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>A skilled practitioner<\/strong>. Someone who has personally achieved a high level of performance in a given field.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A knowledgeable theorist<\/strong>. Someone who has studied, argued, researched and theorized about how a field works.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In short, doers and thinkers.<\/p>\n<p>This distinction tends to hold across many domains. An excellent pilot, or an expert in aviation. A crack coder, or a computer scientist. Legendary investor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You-ebook\/dp\/B0076DDBJ6\">Warren Buffett<\/a>, or Nobel-winning economist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You-ebook\/dp\/B0076DDBJ6\">Paul Krugman<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In some domains, these tend to be one-in-the-same. I don\u2019t think it makes sense to talk about physics experts being split between doing and thinking. Doers in physics are also thinkers. Similarly, some fields lack enough theory to have thinkers\u2014an expert sushi chef who doesn\u2019t make sushi is a self-contradiction.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re getting advice, who should you listen to: doers or thinkers? I\u2019d like to argue that this question has a more interesting answer than it might first appear. If you can take the best parts of both, you\u2019ll make better decisions than following only one kind.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Separates Doers from Thinkers<\/h2>\n<p>Although clear examples of doing-vs-thinking exist in many domains, most examples aren\u2019t clear cut.<\/p>\n<p>Expert thinkers usually require at least some doing to properly understand their field. Linguists typically learn other languages, if only to understand their own better. They may not be the most prolific polyglots, but they can typically speak something other than English.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, expert doers usually require some theory to be proficient. An expert surgeon that doesn\u2019t know anything about medicine is a quack. <\/p>\n<p>Therefore, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s useful to divide up these experts based on how much they do vs think. Instead, I think the key distinction is what kind of feedback they get from their environment.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"442\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/feedback-cycles.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11140\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/feedback-cycles.png 800w, https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/feedback-cycles-300x166.png 300w, https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/feedback-cycles-768x424.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Doing VS Thinking Environments<\/h2>\n<p>Doers live in a world that rewards them for performance. Entrepreneurs are graded by the market, not a teacher. Surgeons succeed and fail on their ability to save lives. A pilot that crashes isn\u2019t going to be an expert for very long.<\/p>\n<p>Thinkers live in a world that rewards them for having high-quality ideas and theories, as judged by their peers. Economists are prestigious when they can make sophisticated arguments using math, models and data to make their point. Medical researchers get acclaim when they can demonstrate the efficacy of different treatments from experiments.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s this difference, more than the actual amount of time spent doing vs thinking, that characterizes so much of the difference between doers and thinkers. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Doers are the \u201cReal\u201d Experts\u2026 Or Are They?<\/h2>\n<p>When I first <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ScottHYoung\/status\/1170092722964688897\">posed this problem on Twitter<\/a>, I got a number of replies favoring doers over thinkers, in general. Doers actually have skin in the game, the reasoning goes, so why ever trust someone who earns esteem without actually getting their hands dirty?<\/p>\n<p>In practice, however, there are plenty of situations where we trust thinkers over doers, as we should:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I\u2019d much rather listen to a doctor, who hasn\u2019t had cancer, about which treatment to pursue than hear about a cancer survivor\u2019s recommended medicine.<\/li>\n<li>I want my NASA rocket engineers to have PhD&#8217;s, not just a lot of experience setting off explosions in their backyard.<\/li>\n<li>I\u2019ll trust my food supplement choices to a nutritionist, not just some guy at my gym who is really buff.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Since we all accept that there are situations where trusting an expert with minimal direct experience makes sense, I think the more interesting question is why thinkers sometimes beat doers for advice. Also, if we can understand some of the factors at play, it might help sort out who to listen to when the choice isn\u2019t so obvious.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Comparing Doers and Thinkers: Whom Should You Trust?<\/h2>\n<p>Doing and thinking are different skills. It\u2019s possible to be a great practitioner and lack clear theories about how success works. This happens more often than you\u2019d think.<\/p>\n<p>Consider using a can opener. You\u2019re probably already an expert practitioner in can openers, and you\u2019ve probably opened thousands of cans in your lifetime. Yet, if I asked you if you could explain how a can opener works, could you? <\/p>\n<p>The difficulty you\u2019re experiencing is known as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/22\/illusion-of-explanatory-depth\/\">illusion of explanatory depth<\/a>. Just having a lot of experience with something doesn\u2019t necessarily make you great at understanding how it works. In fact, in one experiment researchers were able to get participants to steadily improve their design of a mechanism\u2014yet nobody had the correct theory for why it worked.<span id=\"33acbd39-69b1-4244-970d-3a90918f1e6b\" data-note=\"Derex, Maxime, Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Bonnefon, Robert Boyd, and Alex Mesoudi. &quot;Causal understanding is not necessary for the improvement of culturally evolving technology.&quot; Nature human behaviour 3, no. 5 (2019): 446.\" class=\"abt-footnote\" contenteditable=\"false\"><sup>?*?<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<p>This is why we need separate theorists in the first place, because simply doing a lot isn&#8217;t guaranteed to generate the right abstract-level theory about how it works.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Doers Can Sometimes Give Bad Advice<\/h2>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"346\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/doers-vs-thinkers.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11144\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/doers-vs-thinkers.png 600w, https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/doers-vs-thinkers-300x173.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>There are many times when being good at something directly doesn\u2019t yield useful advice:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Experience the tree, miss the forest<\/strong>. Successful entrepreneurs start one company, but often give advice for all companies. Just because you know every detail of a single tree doesn\u2019t mean you understand how the forest works.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Can\u2019t separate successful strategy from background context<\/strong>. All success is a combination of both the methods a person used to succeed (which you can too) as well as background factors that are unique. Teasing these apart isn\u2019t easy, and sometimes we do it wrong.<\/li>\n<li><strong>They don\u2019t remember (or understand) their own success<\/strong>. In Cal Newport\u2019s book, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You-ebook\/dp\/B0076DDBJ6\">So Good They Can\u2019t Ignore You<\/a>, he discusses how Steve Jobs advice differed dramatically from the path Jobs actually took. We\u2019re always editing our own autobiographies, sometimes to the detriment of those who follow our lead.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Listening to Thinkers Can Backfire<\/h2>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"297\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/abstract-art.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11146\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/abstract-art.png 500w, https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/abstract-art-300x178.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>This isn\u2019t to say that thinkers are immune from giving terrible advice:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bullshit is higher when success isn\u2019t tethered to the real world<\/strong>. If you only need to sound impressive, not be impressive, then it\u2019s easier to have theories and ideas become unhinged from the real world.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Theories can be true and also irrelevant<\/strong>. David Chapman tweets here about how many fields claim wide intellectual territory, but mostly debate <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Meaningness\/status\/1156971953380458496\">highly contrived minutia in practice<\/a>. Most <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/25\/wicked-problems\/\">problems are wicked<\/a>, which makes them unsuitable for theorizing, and thus many thinkers prefer to retreat elsewhere.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prestige often substitutes for knowledge<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.overcomingbias.com\/2014\/01\/advice-isnt-about-info.html\">According to Robin Hanson<\/a>, we often seek advice not to get useful ideas, but to affiliate with high-status people. If thinkers are seen as especially prestigious this can add a veneer of acceptability to their advice which doesn&#8217;t withstand actual practice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Combining the Best of Thinkers and Doers (and Avoiding the Worst)<\/h2>\n<p>The best approach is to combine both thinkers and doers, to trade-off their weaknesses for each other.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The theories of thinkers tend to be better than those of doers. <\/strong>Therefore, if I\u2019m trying to think abstractly, I tend to side more with ideas from scientists, academics and people who have to defend their ideas for a living rather than some guy who was successful once.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Detailed advice, however, tends to be better from doers.<\/strong> Specific steps, tactics and strategies tend to be better when they come from a practitioner, as this person hasn\u2019t only calibrated against what works, but also what\u2019s relevant.<\/p>\n<p>If I were to apply these two rules of thumb to something like health, that might mean I\u2019d want to get my general sense on which diets are healthy, what kind of exercise to do and how much from an academic source (thinkers), but I\u2019d want the specific plan, how to make it stick in practice, motivation tips and detailed strategy from someone who is super fit (doers).<\/p>\n<p>Advice from thinkers tends to be worse the further it leaves the assumptions and evidence backing up their theories. Advice from doers tends to be worse the further it leaves their personal experience. In both cases, better advice is mostly interpolation, whereas dubious advice is mostly extrapolation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/extrapolation-and-interpolation.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11154\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/extrapolation-and-interpolation.png 500w, https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/extrapolation-and-interpolation-300x197.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>What do you think? <strong>Who do you trust to give you advice?<\/strong> Why do you trust those people compared to other people who offer suggestions on a topic? Share your thoughts in the comments.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<section aria-label=\"Footnotes\" class=\"wp-block-abt-footnotes abt-footnotes\" role=\"region\">\n<hr>\n<ol>\n<li class=\"abt-footnotes-item\" id=\"33acbd39-69b1-4244-970d-3a90918f1e6b-ref\">\n<div class=\"abt-footnotes-item__marker\"><sup>?*?<\/sup><\/div>\n<div class=\"abt-footnotes-item__content\">Derex, Maxime, Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Bonnefon, Robert Boyd, and Alex Mesoudi. &#8220;Causal understanding is not necessary for the improvement of culturally evolving technology.&#8221; Nature human behaviour 3, no. 5 (2019): 446.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What makes someone an expert? The word is often used to refer to two different types of people: In short, doers and thinkers. This distinction tends to hold across many domains. An excellent pilot, or an expert in aviation. A crack coder, or a computer scientist. Legendary investor Warren Buffett, or Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11136","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-personal-development","7":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Thinkers vs Doers: Who Gives Better Advice? - Scott H Young<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you\u2019re getting advice, who should you listen to: doers or thinkers? If you can take the best parts of both, you\u2019ll make better decisions than following only one kind.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thinkers vs Doers: Who Gives Better Advice? - Scott H Young\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you\u2019re getting advice, who should you listen to: doers or thinkers? If you can take the best parts of both, you\u2019ll make better decisions than following only one kind.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Scott H Young\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AuthorScottYoung\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-23T16:36:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-09T20:43:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/doers-and-thinkers.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scott Young\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@scotthyoung\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@scotthyoung\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scott Young\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/23\\\/thinkers-vs-doers\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/23\\\/thinkers-vs-doers\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Scott Young\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2f58ab6c4a36422c78416e5b7a79604c\"},\"headline\":\"Thinkers vs Doers: Who Gives Better Advice?\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-23T16:36:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-09T20:43:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/23\\\/thinkers-vs-doers\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1411,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/23\\\/thinkers-vs-doers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/doers-and-thinkers.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"General\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/23\\\/thinkers-vs-doers\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/23\\\/thinkers-vs-doers\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/23\\\/thinkers-vs-doers\\\/\",\"name\":\"Thinkers vs Doers: Who Gives Better Advice? - Scott H Young\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/23\\\/thinkers-vs-doers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/23\\\/thinkers-vs-doers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/doers-and-thinkers.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-23T16:36:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-09T20:43:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2f58ab6c4a36422c78416e5b7a79604c\"},\"description\":\"If you\u2019re getting advice, who should you listen to: doers or thinkers? If you can take the best parts of both, you\u2019ll make better decisions than following only one kind.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/23\\\/thinkers-vs-doers\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/23\\\/thinkers-vs-doers\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/23\\\/thinkers-vs-doers\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/doers-and-thinkers.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/doers-and-thinkers.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":334},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/23\\\/thinkers-vs-doers\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Thinkers vs Doers: Who Gives Better Advice?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Scott H Young\",\"description\":\"Learn faster, achieve more\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2f58ab6c4a36422c78416e5b7a79604c\",\"name\":\"Scott Young\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a2da240fb070ba8346e3be8b89043b66c39bdcf933d9e7311dcb10383d0bc645?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a2da240fb070ba8346e3be8b89043b66c39bdcf933d9e7311dcb10383d0bc645?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a2da240fb070ba8346e3be8b89043b66c39bdcf933d9e7311dcb10383d0bc645?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Scott Young\"},\"description\":\"Hello, my name is Scott H. Young and I am obsessed with personal development! When I am not reading several books a month on the subject I am constantly trying to find new ways to improve and get more out of life.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/scottadmin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thinkers vs Doers: Who Gives Better Advice? - Scott H Young","description":"If you\u2019re getting advice, who should you listen to: doers or thinkers? If you can take the best parts of both, you\u2019ll make better decisions than following only one kind.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thinkers vs Doers: Who Gives Better Advice? - Scott H Young","og_description":"If you\u2019re getting advice, who should you listen to: doers or thinkers? If you can take the best parts of both, you\u2019ll make better decisions than following only one kind.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/","og_site_name":"Scott H Young","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AuthorScottYoung\/","article_published_time":"2019-09-23T16:36:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-09-09T20:43:11+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/doers-and-thinkers.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Scott Young","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@scotthyoung","twitter_site":"@scotthyoung","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scott Young","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/"},"author":{"name":"Scott Young","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2f58ab6c4a36422c78416e5b7a79604c"},"headline":"Thinkers vs Doers: Who Gives Better Advice?","datePublished":"2019-09-23T16:36:54+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-09T20:43:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/"},"wordCount":1411,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/doers-and-thinkers.png","articleSection":["General"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/","name":"Thinkers vs Doers: Who Gives Better Advice? - Scott H Young","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/doers-and-thinkers.png","datePublished":"2019-09-23T16:36:54+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-09T20:43:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2f58ab6c4a36422c78416e5b7a79604c"},"description":"If you\u2019re getting advice, who should you listen to: doers or thinkers? If you can take the best parts of both, you\u2019ll make better decisions than following only one kind.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/doers-and-thinkers.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/doers-and-thinkers.png","width":600,"height":334},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/thinkers-vs-doers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thinkers vs Doers: Who Gives Better Advice?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/","name":"Scott H Young","description":"Learn faster, achieve more","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2f58ab6c4a36422c78416e5b7a79604c","name":"Scott Young","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a2da240fb070ba8346e3be8b89043b66c39bdcf933d9e7311dcb10383d0bc645?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a2da240fb070ba8346e3be8b89043b66c39bdcf933d9e7311dcb10383d0bc645?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a2da240fb070ba8346e3be8b89043b66c39bdcf933d9e7311dcb10383d0bc645?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Scott Young"},"description":"Hello, my name is Scott H. Young and I am obsessed with personal development! When I am not reading several books a month on the subject I am constantly trying to find new ways to improve and get more out of life.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/author\/scottadmin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11136"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15419,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11136\/revisions\/15419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}