Differentiating between story and fact is the starting place for all of my coaching. Here’s why: the concept of what’s true is entirely subjective.

We all live in the world and go about our business making observations of the world around us and believing what we observe is just the way things are or the truth.

Example #1: She is so rude.

Example #2: I am not a strong enough runner.

Example #3: My boss always singles me out.

These are three very different examples of comments you and I may make. When we state these out loud or think them to ourselves, it’s like we’re just making observations of the world…stating the facts. Interestingly enough, the only way any of the three example above can be defined as a fact is if it can be proven in a court of law or every single person on this Earth would agree.

Read over the examples above again. What’s actually true is that all three are just a story we might create in our minds. Thoughts that pass through and feel true, but aren’t really the truth.

There is a very important difference between the truth and our truth.

Back to the examples above. I might believe someone is rude, based on my definition of what it means to be rude. Someone else might believe that person is the nicest human they’ve ever met.

Same with my subjective determination of what it means to be a good enough runner. I may tell myself I’m a not good enough based on a personal expectation (see prior blog post!), but that doesn’t actually equate to my true running ability.

We are all fish in water when it comes to our thoughts. And we don’t realize we’re in water! When we think something long enough it feels true. Those thoughts that create our truth are what, in turn, create the results we have in our lives.

The work is in getting curious about what we’re thinking that is not serving in creating the results that we want. Then getting to work to change that.

We have so much power, control and agency in the results we have and it starts with understanding where fact ends and story begins.