Coaching practices for 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 When Half of Them Might Just Fall Apart the Moment I Write Them Down and Look Straight at Them

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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
• It all makes perfect sense in my head, but when someone outside my world looks at it they’re lost
• I keep telling myself "it has to be this way" and "that’s just not an option," and I’ve never once stopped to write down those rules and ask whether the problem actually imposed them or whether I just assumed them.
• I’ve got this knot of a decision I keep turning over in my head and it just stays a fog

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. Write for an ignorant reader: explain it to someone who knows nothing
   Describe your creative work to an imaginary person who has no context — the explanation forces you to see what you have been assuming.
   The Beginner’s Mind in Creative Practice
4. Make your constraints explicit before solving
   Write out every assumption and rule you are treating as fixed — most problem-solvers carry invisible constraints they never surface.
   Constraint Relaxation: Escaping the Walls You Built Yourself
5. Use morning pages to clarify a decision or stuck feeling
   When you feel blocked, vague, or confused, write the confusion out until it resolves.
   Morning Pages, Made Practical
6. 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
7. Log probability estimates before the outcome
   Write down your confidence level and reasoning before you know how things turn out.
   Hindsight Bias: Why Everything Seems Obvious in Retrospect
8. Watch for the signatures of overconfidence
   Treat "this is obvious" and "I’ve got this" as warning signs, not green lights.
   Metacognition: Knowing What You Actually Know
9. Test each component probability separately
   Before judging a joint claim, estimate each element on its own, then check whether the conjunction is lower.
   The Conjunction Fallacy — When "More Details" Feels More Likely
10. 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

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