Coaching practices for Check the Facts with Friends

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Check the Facts with Friends, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• My mind keeps stacking up every reason I’m right that this went badly, and I can’t seem to see anything that points the other way
• I want to know whether my mind is actually anchored to reality or just to itself, and the honest test is to look back: can I name a real belief I once held that evidence later changed
• I only ever seem to run into facts that prove me right, and I’m starting to suspect that’s because I’m quietly steering toward them
• Everything I read and everyone I talk to already agrees with me, and it’s started to feel less like being right and more like I’ve sealed myself inside an echo chamber where nothing can challenge me.
• Okay, I’ve sorted out whether the feeling fits

Practices that may help

1. Check the Facts, Made Practical
   "Check the facts" is a DBT emotion regulation skill for testing whether an emotion is justified by the actual situation or whether it is firing based on an interpretation — a story the mind has added. The underlying mechanism (examining the evidence for a belief) is the same as cognitive restructuring in CBT, which has strong randomized-trial support for anxiety and depression. DBT packages it specifically as a regulation tool, to be used when the emotion may not fit the facts.
2. Examine the evidence for and against
   Systematically list what supports your interpretation and what doesn’t — like a fair-minded lawyer, not a prosecutor.
   Check the Facts, Made Practical
3. Review past beliefs for what evidence did and didn’t move them
   Look back at past beliefs and ask: what would have changed my mind then, and did I let it?
   Falsification Thinking
4. Actively seek evidence that would prove you wrong
   Ask what would change your mind — and then look for it.
   The Scout Mindset
5. Deliberately seek out sources that disagree with you
   For any important belief, find and read the best-regarded opposing view.
   Confirmation Bias: Seeing What You Expect to See
6. Decide on a regulation strategy based on what the facts actually show
   Use the outcome of checking the facts to choose the right next step — not the same step every time.
   Check the Facts, Made Practical
7. Specify what would falsify your belief before you look at evidence
   Write down what evidence would prove you wrong before you go looking.
   Falsification Thinking
8. Maintain a belief-tracking log with timestamps
   Record your beliefs and confidence levels before evidence arrives, so you can see whether you actually updated.
   Confirmation Bias: Seeing What You Expect to See
9. Ask whether the emotion fits the facts
   After checking, decide whether your emotion is warranted by the actual facts — not the interpretation.
   Check the Facts, Made Practical
10. Invite an adversarial collaborator
    Find someone whose genuine prior is the opposite of yours, and work together on the same evidence.
    Confirmation Bias: Seeing What You Expect to See

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