Useful Not True

By: Derek Sivers

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Paperback | 10 August 2025

At a Glance

Paperback
98 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
12.5 x 20.4 x 0.7

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Personal effectiveness:

"Useful Not True" is about reframing.

Success in anything starts with your perspective which affects your strategy - your actions.

Your first thought ("this is a disaster") feels true, but it's not the only perspective.

Your first thought is an obstacle you need to get past by realizing no thoughts are necessarily true.

After your initial impulse, consider other perspectives, then choose the thought that's more useful to you - the one that makes you take effective actions.

Understanding others:

People share perspectives, not facts. They tell you how they see things.

Like someone across the world telling you the time. Maybe it's true for them, but not for you, and not for most other people.

Brains lie to their owners. Nobody knows the real reasons why they do anything.

When someone says, "I believe...", then whatever they say next is not a fact. No beliefs are necessarily true.

Beliefs are perspectives. Explanations are confabulated. Obligations are wishes. Rules are arbitrary. They're useful, but not necessarily true.

Knowing this gives you empathy, as you understand people's incentives behind their beliefs.

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