Useful Not True - Derek Sivers

Log

People communicate for social and emotional reasons. That's why people rarely share objective and unbiased facts. They're boring. Nobody bonds over them.

Feelings matter. Get the facts. Feelings and meanings are left. We can change the meaning, which changes how we feel.

Consider what incentives a person has to hold a particular belief. It helps you understand someone, which helps you empathize and connect with them.

Your brain invents explanations so you can believe them

The only true facts are actions.

Doubt your memory.

Misunderstandings amplify over time.

One story based on one point of view is considered "the past".

Science is often not fact. Science just aims to be less wrong. It's intellectual humility.

Don't worry about the truth. Worry about your actions.

We're held back by meanings we give to information.

My beliefs aren't true.

We rarely reconsider inherited beliefs. Those established during childhood or our formative years. They may have been useful then, but could be problematic now.

All beliefs are make believe. They simply help us take certain actions.

A belief is something you think is true. No proof. If it were proven true, it would no longer be a belief. It would be a fact.

The more emotional the belief, the less likely it is to be true.

I like that belief.

Get past your first thought. Instincts are easily fooled. Use your wisdom.