This is a sides of the hill corollary: when people criticize advice, they’re almost always wrong because you can’t know what side of the hill the readers are on.
To review the theory, sides of the hill claims that there is an inverted U function that represents some personal characteristic. Let’s use the example of perfectionism.
If you’re constantly submitting sloppy work, then you might need to move a little further along towards perfectionism. You need to move up the hill. On the other hand, if someone is spending too much time polishing their every action, and it’s causing stress in their life, they probably need to move toward less perfectionism. They need to go back down the hill.
The point is that everyone is at a different point on the hill. If you tell everyone to go up you’re wrong. If you tell everyone to go down, you’re also wrong. Everyone is at a different place.
So people publish articles saying “Stop being a perfectionist.” They’re telling people to go down the hill. But they’re also telling the person who submits sloppy work that they shouldn’t try to get better.
Then, in a sly move of inspirational genius, another blogger writes an article in response about “The value of polishing your work.” This article mentions how the prior blogger missed the point and that actually we need to spend more time polishing our work.
They’re both wrong and they’re both right. Some people need to read one article, other people need to read a different article.
One can’t know which side of a hill someone’s readers are on. The criticism is misguided.
You’re a unique person. Use these guideposts, but be sure to find the answers for yourself because no advice is right 100% of the time.