More important that forming the right opinions and views, I feel is being open to reassess your stance in the light of new information and to put the effort in to base your view on actual reasoned information, not reflex
All too often , opinions are formed on a reflex coloured by past experience and exposure to ideas/information, and then held just because they have been expressed or bought into at some point. We all tend to "nail our colours to the mast" to one degree or another.
I am Mr. Average Everyman, I don't have any special skills or insight, I will only gain an "edge" if I study an issue, and critically evaluate the available information, and then continue to do so as time goes on, but that "edge" only has value for me and only then in so much as i let it influence my actions in a meaningful way.
Sometimes the juice is not worth the squeeze, I feel this way about politics for example, so what if I have a view, it's only of value for conversation.
Other times, there are sound benefits to critical evaluation and constant reassessment, personal lifestyle choices and to bring it back to basics, evaluating financial ( and speculative financial) decisions.
Here's, a real life example from Mr. Average Everyman aka Me.
For years I was of the view that my diet should be good quality, whole food, minimal processing and "clean", I'm in my 50's and a Biologist by training. I am happy with this view, part an parcel of this outlook was the belief that my diet should be heavier on good quality carbs, whole-wheat, oats and good rice etc, then some protein, veg, fruit etc. Sounds OK, doesn't it, and on the face of it there are very good principals at work, avoid processed crap, give yourself plenty of "energy" food and enough "building" foods and "special bit" to be balanced.
That has view has changed in some significant aspects, it was formed on the basis of received information from early life that fitted well with my general view, and I'm moderately active so, all is good right ?
Well, recently I got a finger-prick blood glucose monitor and started experimenting on myself and keeping logs. What I found blew my mind.
I received compelling new information that forced me to rethink.
In a nutshell, even the smallest quantity of good quality whole wheat, or steel cut oats sent my blood glucose level into pre-diabetic levels for hours.
I the last 5 yrs or so, I have been getting a little thicker in the middle, but my "good diet" did not change, I put it down to getting older, slowing metabolism and less activity, probably true, but my diet was actively harming the situation.
All those blood glucose spikes ( more like plateaus) were forcing my body to work, and it looked like it was work that it was not doing well.
So, I changed, no bowl of porridge for breakfast, now it's eggs, cheese and nuts. Dinner is more often a steak or a bowl of streamed vegetables with olive oil. I no longer buy bread.
I do not get hungry, more often than not eat two meals a day without even thinking about it
The result, my blood glucose level hovers between 4.5 and 5.5 mMol/L ALL DAY, and I really see the impact of exercise in lowering the level for the next two days ( I do one gym/sauna session a week, but that is about 2 and a half hrs of good activity with kettlebells, free-weights, treadmill and a little swimming, then 20min in the sauna)
For contrast, two toasted wholemeal pittas breads ( ingredients :wholemeal wheat flour, salt, yeast) with butter puts my blood glucose over 10 for over two hours, the same with HALF my breakfast serving of whole oat/whole milk porridge.
My point, at any time up to recently I would have argued for the classic food pyramid, cereal base narrowing to fats and oils at the top, and I would have believed anyone professing the opposite was crazy. But WHERE WAS MY DATA, what did I base that opinion on ?
With new information I have changed my view and changed my life habits accordingly, my middle has reseeded, and I have actually put on some muscle which was not expected at my age ( another piece of "received information"? )
One caveat here, maybe my carb rich diet was suited to me in my youth, and needed to change as I age, do not blindly follow my regime, instead gather your own data, whatever metric you choose to measure
It's hard, to err is human and as I said, I'm Mr. Average, but it can certainly help to bias correct when you have a moment of clarity and mental energy.