The first step of independence, of originality, is ironic. It is admitting that you aren't original. Let me unpack that.

The first step is to admit what you don't know, or what you lack in terms of ability. If you want to figure out what you want, first figure out what you don't want. Or if you want to come up with an opinion that is your own, admit what you don't know. Let's say I'm curious about politics, and I want to know what's going on in my city, or with the Trump administration. The first thing I'm going to do is assess how much I know. I'm going to say I know this about Trump, this about what he's done, and this is what I base that information off of. I'm going to say I don't know anything else besides that, like what he's done recently.

This is important because very often when I see people make decisions, they'll base it on things that are baseless or illusory. If I ask people sometimes why they make a decision, or why they've done something, very often I will get something touted by other people, which is often itself mistaken, which they no less have not closely analyzed to determine whether they agree with it, and often cannot appropriately remember. If you are to prod people in this capacity, you can get them to admit that sometimes. They may reply with something to the effect of, "I actually never understood why that was, I just heard other people say that and decided to, with immense stupidity, allow their decision to dominate my self."

Acknowledging where a decision comes from: that is the key. If you want to form an opinion that's political, then you need to assess what you know and are certain that you know.

Then, admit what you don't know. Once you assess what you do know about a situation, understand that. The rest you need to either figure out by immersing yourself more in the situation, or you need to engage with what you have. If I know that I don't know about what Trump's done recently, I'm not going to form an opinion on that. I'm instead going to form an opinion from what I do know, what he's done in the past. When I speak of my opinion, I'm going to make that clear. I'm going to emphasize that this is my opinion of the President in the past, yet I cannot speak as to what he has done recently, except for understanding that he's likely to continue doing similar things to what he's done in the past.

To be sure, we must admit what we don't know or what we can't do so that we can gain that knowledge or ability. It's a good idea to start out with what you do know and have, and use that, because it is very often far more effective than you might have thought sometimes. Then, the next step is to gain those things which you need to know, or want to be able to do. That requires immersion, practice, and engagement. Then you will have an opinion that is not only accurate, but indeed robust.

Jesus tells us we are to carry out his will, and the will of the Father. God sent us to carry his will. Therefore, when you are figuring out what you want, it is helpful to know that I do not only act on my behalf, but on behalf of the one who sent me. God sent all of us to carry out his will.