Question My Assumptions: 10 Evidence-Based Coaching Practices
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Question My Assumptions, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
About 2 minutes
Try it here: list an assumption and how to test it
Write an assumption you're acting on, what you would see if it were false, and a way to check it. Keep what you know separate from what you assume.
What assumption are you acting on?
Practices that may help
- 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 - Separate facts from assumptions explicitly
Sort what you actually know from what you’re assuming, in two visible columns.
First-Principles Thinking, Made Usable - Surface and test underlying assumptions
Identify the implicit assumptions that your reasoning depends on and test whether they hold.
Socratic Questioning - Question the question itself
Before answering a question, ask whether it is the right question and whether it is framed to produce useful answers.
Socratic Questioning - Use Socratic questioning to test each belief
Interrogate every claim with “how do I know this is true?” until only bedrock remains.
First-Principles Thinking, Made Usable - 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 - Rule out mind-reading and fortune-telling
Catch the two most common interpretation errors — assuming you know what someone is thinking, or what is about to happen.
Check the Facts, Made Practical - 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 - 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 - The assumption audit
Surface and question the beliefs that are driving a current decision or conflict.
Svadhyaya: Self-Study as a Daily Practice
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- My conclusion only makes sense because of a bunch of things I’m silently taking for granted about people and how the world works
- 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 feels airtight and yet something nags at me, and I think it’s that the whole thing only holds if a couple of unspoken things are true
- I’m grinding hard on "how do I fix this" and a quiet doubt keeps surfacing that I might be solving the wrong problem entirely
- There’s this thing I’m treating as obviously true and building everything on top of
Related concerns
- Assumption Questions To Ask Friends
Name the assumptions filling the gap between the data you selected and the interpretation you reached.
Surface and examine the assumptions you are making
- Examine Assumptions
Name the assumptions filling the gap between the data you selected and the interpretation you reached.
- How To Examine Your Assumptions
Name the assumptions filling the gap between the data you selected and the interpretation you reached.
- Question Assumptions
Name the assumptions filling the gap between the data you selected and the interpretation you reached.
- Question Our Assumptions
Name the assumptions filling the gap between the data you selected and the interpretation you reached.
- Question Your Assumptions
Name the assumptions filling the gap between the data you selected and the interpretation you reached.
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.