#156 The Power of Assumptions (Even the Ones That Aren’t True)

Why the stories you believe about yourself shape your weight, your willpower, and your future.

We’re often told that making assumptions is dangerous — that it leads to misjudgment, stereotyping, and mistakes. And most of the time, that’s true. But in my work helping people overcome everything from trauma to lifelong weight struggles, I’ve discovered a radical idea:

The right assumptions - even if they’re not “true” - can change your life.

Let me explain.

When I work with clients, I don’t start by asking what’s wrong with them. I start by assuming a few things about them. I assume they are capable of change. I assume they have inner resources they’ve forgotten. I assume they already know more about their path forward than they think they do.

Remember : "An assumption is something taken as true without evidence."

A Story to Prove the Point

In my training course I tell a story about a young man pulled over by the police for running a red light. He tells the officer, “I’m sorry. I was rushing home to get there before my mum - every year, I buy her a birthday gift from my dad, who passed away. I didn’t want her to walk in and find it on the kitchen table.”

Now, pause. What do you assume about this man?

Now imagine the exact same setup - only this time he says, “I was rushing home to get there before my mum - left a big bag of weed on the table.”

Changed your view?

Same person. Same moment. One tiny detail flipped your entire judgment of him. That’s how assumptions work — and we do the same to ourselves all day, every day.

So What If You Assumed Something Different About Yourself?

What if you started assuming:

• That you’re not broken - just stuck in an outdated solution.

• That your “bad” habits once served a good purpose.

• That your brain will follow if you act as if you believe in yourself.

In my Quit Your Diet course, I share a set of 7 assumptions I ask every client to make, not because they’re provable, but because they work. These are tools, not truths. They’re meant to shift the inner narrative that says you can’t change.

Here are a few of them:

🧭 The Map Is Not the Territory: You don’t see the world - you see your version of it. Want to change your experience? Change the map.

🎓 You Are the Expert of Your Own Life: Nobody else lives inside your head. Stop outsourcing your answers to people guessing from the outside.

🔁 If You Always Do What You’ve Always Done… you’ll always get what you’ve always got. It’s not punishment. It’s just physics.

I’ll be exploring each of these in detail in the coming blog posts. For now, here’s what I want you to remember:

💬 “Talk to yourself the way I talk to my clients - with belief, not blame.”

If you’re stuck in old patterns, it’s not because you’re lazy or weak. It’s because you’ve been acting out old assumptions that no longer serve you.

Here’s the takeaway: Whether something is true or untrue about others doesn’t matter much—because we make assumptions all the time. It’s just a mental shortcut our brains use. So if the negative assumptions we make are ones we’ve constructed ourselves, why not change them? Why not act as if better ones are true?

Let’s start pleasing that little judge in our heads—and in doing so, we’ll begin to shift the language we use about ourselves.

Stick with me as I walk you through each of the personal assumptions I try to make about myself—and, yes, the ones I’m making about all my clients.

So let’s try something radical: assume something better. Try it for a day. Then another. Watch what shifts.

And if you want a full copy of all seven mindset assumptions (beautifully designed and easy to reference), you can grab it free at actionfactorypublishing.com

Next in the Series:

👉 “The Map Is Not the Territory” - Why Your Reality Isn’t Reality (and Why That’s Good News)