The best things I learned in training: Making stuff up

We’re all making stuff up more often than we admit.

In conversation, we fill gaps. We infer intent, reconstruct missing context, and form explanations from incomplete information. The problem isn’t making assumptions, it’s presenting them as facts.

Saying, “I’m making this up, but I suspect…” is powerful in a conversation. It shows that you know where the evidence ends and your interpretation begins. It gives others permission to correct you without turning the exchange into a confrontation. And it makes your confident statements more credible because people can see that you distinguish certainty from speculation.

Admitting an assumption isn’t weakness. It’s intellectual honesty, and honesty builds trust.

The goal isn’t to stop making stuff up. It’s to label it when we do.