How To Be Less Gullible

When children are young, many parents rightfully teach them to be weary of strangers, even if they seem friendly. This is a justifiable skepticism that is placed in the minds of young people to prevent them from being susceptible or gullible – to the point where their safety is compromised.

Hesitating to trust others can at times be a misjudgement but in many cases (like the one just mentioned) and in many other situations being skeptical is useful. Paranoia is not a favorable trait, but neither is gullibility. For this reason, it is important to find ways to be less gullible if you struggle with easily trusting people. If this is a problem for you, here are some ways you can deal with it to become more reasonably skeptical.

Ways to be less gullible

1. Forgive yourself if you’ve been gullible

If you’ve been gullible in the past and this has caused you its fair share of troubles then a good starting point is forgiving yourself. Accept any past mistakes you may have made because of your gullibility and take them as learning experiences. Use them to better understand where you went wrong and prevent the risk of repeats in the future. There’s no need to expect your past or present self to be a walking lie detector. Remember that if you mistakenly trusted someone, you need not be burdened by it.

2. Don’t trust others too much

There are people out there who are decent and others not so much, but it’s hard to tell them apart some times. There are manipulative people in the world who come off right and are just not. To be safe, it’s always best to avoid trusting people excessively. This doesn’t mean being paranoid, it simply means being cautious.

In general, minimize your trust of others but also look for signs of fibbing. This is not fool proof, but you may notice some clues that someone is being dishonest. Stuttering, fidgeting, avoiding eye contact, failing to answer follow-up questions coherently, seeking reassurance and similar behaviors can all indicate lying. Key word here being “can” because these do not indicate lying 100% of the time. Similarly, some people offer little to no indication of lying even when they are.

The main point here is to be hesitant to trust another until you have vetted the person over time. Not every person in the world is out to get you so don’t go overboard into paranoia, but be cautious.

3. Learn to do your own research

Avoid taking whatever people say as fact when they say it. Some stories are lies and some might even be genuinely misunderstood. It’s important to be able to do your own research before reaching conclusions on any matter. Ask questions either to the person you are skeptical towards or to others who may have their own wisdom. Use the internet when possible to research further into what people say.

4. Grow your knowledge

It is harder to lie to someone who knows what happened. It is harder to manipulate someone who can see when something is not in their best interest. To become less gullible, try growing your general knowledge about pretty much anything. The most random topics can be useful at any time. Gain understanding of life by living it to the fullest and gaining experiences: think university of life. The internet and books can be really helpful here as well. Open up an article or chapter and read. Do research on any topic and try to gain perspective from diverse sources.

5. Trust your instincts

Instincts aren’t always right but they can be helpful. It isn’t a good idea to live life based on instinct alone, but your gut feeling can be a great danger detector at times. If something doesn’t feel right then there is a good chance it isn’t.

Don’t go out of your way to do something for someone just because they seemed nice when you met them. Some things can just seem shady: people who seem to throw themselves at you for a relationship or whatever else, offers of free products or free money and other offers that seem too good to be true should always be approached with hesitation and mostly avoided altogether.