Why Structured Reflection Helps Before a Big Decision
Big decisions rarely get clearer just by thinking about them more. A structured approach can help.
Read Article
Personal Growth
A Simple Exercise for Separating Facts from Assumptions
Photo by Negative Space on Pexels
One of the simplest reflection exercises is also one of the most effective: take a page, draw a line down the middle, and label the two columns 'Facts' and 'Assumptions.'
In the Facts column, write only what you know to be true — things you've directly observed, been told plainly, or can verify. In the Assumptions column, write everything else: predictions, interpretations, and worries about how things might go.
Most people are surprised by how short the Facts column turns out to be, and how much of their thinking has been living, unexamined, in the Assumptions column the whole time.
This doesn't mean assumptions are wrong — many are reasonable. But naming them as assumptions, rather than treating them as settled facts, tends to loosen the grip a difficult situation can have on your attention.
It's a small exercise, but it's a useful one to bring into a consultation session, where a consultant can help you test which assumptions are worth examining further and which can be set aside for now.
