Coaching practices for Facts vs Assumptions

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

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

• In my head the things I’m sure of and the things I’m just guessing at all run together as one blur, so I end up treating my assumptions like hard limits
• My conclusion only makes sense because of a bunch of things I’m silently taking for granted about people and how the world works
• My plan feels solid until I notice it quietly depends on a whole stack of things just going my way
• "She was being dismissive" feels like a plain fact to me, exactly as solid as "she left the meeting early"
• My beliefs are all hedged into mush

Practices that may help

1. Separate facts from assumptions explicitly
   Sort what you actually know from what you’re assuming, in two visible columns.
   First-Principles Thinking, Made Usable
2. Surface and examine the assumptions you are making
   Name the assumptions filling the gap between the data you selected and the interpretation you reached.
   The Ladder of Inference
3. Name the assumptions that must hold for the plan to work
   Every plan rests on assumptions — list them and ask how likely each one is.
   Margin of Safety
4. Distinguish observable data from interpretation
   Separate what a camera would record from what you made of it.
   The Ladder of Inference
5. Make your beliefs precise enough to be wrong
   Vague claims cannot be falsified — sharpen your belief until it can be.
   Falsification Thinking
6. Test the big assumption behind your immunity
   Design a small experiment to check whether the assumption keeping you stuck is actually true.
   Kegan’s Subject-Object Theory, Made Practical
7. Surface and test underlying assumptions
   Identify the implicit assumptions that your reasoning depends on and test whether they hold.
   Socratic Questioning
8. White hat: establish the facts before opinion
   Separate what is known from what is inferred — the white hat is for data only, with no interpretation.
   Six Thinking Hats, Made Practical
9. Map and stress-test your key assumptions
   Before executing, list the assumptions the plan depends on — then ask which ones would kill it if wrong.
   Red Teaming: Stress-Testing Plans Before They Fail
10. Separate the data from the narrative you’ve built around it
    List the raw facts, then list the story you’ve layered on top — and check whether the story actually follows.
    The Narrative Fallacy: Why We Can’t Stop Making Stories

Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.