Signal vs. Noise: How Great Course Creators Help Students Find Their Way
Have you ever watched a beginner try to learn a complex skill?
They're drowning in information—blogs, YouTube videos, forums, courses, and "expert" advice coming at them from every direction. And yet, they're stuck in place, overwhelmed by all the options.
The problem isn't a lack of information. It's the opposite.
When it comes to expertise and learning, beginners face an impossible challenge: they can't tell the signal from the noise.
The Beginner's Dilemma
Let's say you want to learn something like copywriting. Should you start with headlines? But wait—direct response headlines or brand headlines? Long-form or short? Problem-focused or benefit-driven?
What about leads—should you use the problem-agitation-solution formula or start with a story? And bullets—do you focus on benefits or features?
Then there's the big idea, psychological triggers, pricing psychology, objection handling, proof elements...
Before you know it, you're paralyzed by options.
And that's just scratching the surface.
If you're a beginner, how do you know where to start? How do you determine what's essential right now versus what can wait until later? How do you separate the signal (what matters) from the noise (everything else)?
This same overwhelm happens in every field—and it's exactly what your students face when they try to learn from you.
Without guidance, most beginners either quit from overwhelm or waste months learning the wrong things first. I've seen people spend a year trying to master advanced psychological triggers when they haven't even learned to write a clear headline.
This is where a good instructor—like you—comes in.
Be Their GPS, Not Their Geography Teacher
When you create a course, you're taking on the role of a teacher. But your job isn't to dump information—it's to provide guidance.
Think about how you use a GPS while driving. A GPS doesn't show you the entire complex system of roads, elevation changes, and geographic features of a region. It doesn't teach you the principles of cartography or how to orient yourself with a compass.
Instead, it gives you exactly what you need, when you need it: "Turn right in 500 feet. Now turn left."
That's what great teachers do. They put blinders on their students—not to restrict them, but to help them focus on exactly what matters right now.
Follow those turn-by-turn instructions, and you'll get from point A to point B without getting lost in the details.
But just like a GPS needs to know your destination before it can give directions, you need to understand what determines the signal in the first place.
What Determines the Signal?
But how do you know what's signal and what's noise? The principle is surprisingly simple:
Your goal determines the signal. Anything that doesn't help achieve that goal is noise.
If you're clear on the result your students want to achieve, you can ruthlessly eliminate anything that doesn't move them toward that outcome.
How I Apply This in My Own Courses
In my Atomic Course Blueprint, I focus on teaching the most brain-dead simple way of outlining your course and fleshing out that outline. I deliberately leave out tons of writing principles and instructional design theory.
Why? Because you don't need to be a perfect writer or know every principle of psychology to create an effective course. You just need clarity and a straightforward approach.
Here's an example:
I had a client who described, with notes of frustration and almost hopelessness, how he, after hours of trying to write an email to his list, would have a couple of sentences that he had typed and re-typed and deleted. I helped him learn to write 500-word articles by guiding him step by step: first how to generate ideas, then outlining, then filling in that outline. He mastered one step at a time until he could do them without overthinking.
After a few weeks, he wrote a complete article in just 2 hours. He was understandably proud and so was I.
That's what happens when you focus on signal instead of drowning in noise.
How to Be a Signal-Focused Course Creator
Here's how to apply this principle in your own teaching:
Get crystal clear on the end goal. What specific results can you promise? This determines the signal. Instead of "learn marketing," try "Create a compelling offer page in 3 days."
Create turn-by-turn directions. Break down the journey into small, manageable steps—just like a GPS gives you one turn at a time. Continuing with the offer page example, you'd learn feature discovery, then feature-benefit writing, then bullet writing, then objection handling, then creating uniqueness, etc. One skill at a time.
Ruthlessly cut what doesn't serve the goal. Be willing to leave out information, even if it's interesting, if it doesn't directly contribute to the outcome. That advanced technique can wait until later.
"But Can I Really Eliminate ALL the Noise?"
The answer is no—and you shouldn't try to. As world-renowned business consultant Roger Martin points out, some noise is part of the learning process. Students will encounter distractions, they'll have questions about tangential topics, they'll wonder about advanced techniques.
But here's the key: your job isn't to create a sterile, noise-free environment. Your job is to help them distinguish between useful noise (questions that deepen understanding) and harmful noise (distractions that derail progress). Think of yourself as their signal amplifier—making what matters louder and clearer so they can hear it above everything else.
The most valuable thing you can do as a course creator isn't to provide more information—it's to provide the right information at the right time.
When you help your students cut through the noise and focus on the signal, you're not just teaching—you're creating clarity. And in a world drowning in information, the course creator who can cut through the noise doesn't just teach—they become essential.
That's the difference between being another voice in the crowd and being the GPS your students can't live without.
Two ways I can help you cut through the noise
The Atomic Course Blueprint - Want to create a course without the usual overwhelm? This is exactly what I'm talking about—a focused guide that gives you just the signal you need, with none of the noise. It provides those "turn-by-turn directions" so you can create your course in weeks, not months. Find out more here.
iPARA: How to organize your digital life for action - Speaking of signal versus noise, is digital disorganization creating too much noise in your work life? iPARA is my simple system that helps you separate what matters (signal) from what doesn't (noise), so you can find what you need in seconds and take action fast. What if just four folders could let you not just stay organized but actually get things done? See for yourself here.
Still here? I love that. One thing you can do for me is reply to this email and let me know: What's the biggest source of "noise" in your course creation process right now? I read every response, and it makes my day.
