What if the voice in your head isn’t telling the truth — just telling a story? In life and leadership, we often mistake our thoughts for facts, letting untested assumptions shape our decisions, relationships, and strategies. But the real growth begins when we realize: just because we think something doesn’t mean it’s true. This shift — from believing to observing our thoughts — is one of the most powerful moves we can make. It’s how we stop reacting, start responding, and finally lead with clarity, alignment, and impact.
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In this week's Paper Napkin Wisdom Weekly:
- TL:DR
- Paper Napkin Wisdom Preview
- The Leadership Superpower Hiding in Plain Sight
- Focus–Align–Act: “Your Thoughts Are Not Facts”
- The Gratitude Ritual: A Paper Napkin Wisdom Guide
- Week in Review
- Try our NEW Digital Program FREE (usually $200 value)
TL;DR – Just Because You Think It… Doesn’t Make It True
🧭 FOCUS
Thoughts are not facts — they’re often just habits of mind.
We react to assumptions dressed up as truth.
🔹 Key Question: What am I believing right now that might be untrue?
🔹 Napkin Thought: “This is just a thought… not the truth.”
🎯 ALIGN
You don’t need to kill every thought — you need to question them.
Lead by checking your inner dialogue, not just your dashboard.
🔹 Reframe: “This is a hypothesis — let’s test it.”
🔹 Mantra: “Let go of assumption. Lead from clarity.”
🚀 ACT
The most powerful leaders observe before acting.
They build strategy from tested reality — not inner bias.
🔹 Pause and ask: “Is this really true?”
🔹 Share the scoreboard — verify alignment.
🔹 Run weekly assumption checks with your team and customers.
🔁 REMEMBER:
When you stop blindly believing your thoughts, you start leading from a place of real insight.
Your thoughts are loud — but they’re not always right.
Paper Napkin Wisdom Podcast Preview
This is the only place where we give you a sneak peek into what's coming up on Paper Napkin Wisdom. Remember to share this with anyone who needs to hear these messages.
Episode 268: Michael Walsh - Freedom Series, Part 10. Michael shares the capstone ideas on designing a life of sustainable freedom. This one ties it all together.
Episode 269: Derek Coburn - Founder of Cadre and author of Let's Retire Retirement, Derek Coburn unpacks a truth about living in the present moment, more fully - not to be missed.
Episode 270: David Umansky - CEO of Civic Builders, David shares a masterclass on social impact leadership. Learn how structure, vision, and passion come together to change communities.
Episode 271: Michael Walsh - Freedom Series, Part 11. Because real freedom is a journey, not a destination. Michael returns with powerful new insights on leadership, leverage, and legacy.
Episode 272: Rainier Mallol - AI meets empathy. Rainier shares how he's using predictive tech to transform global health—and why solving big problems starts with human connection.
Episode 273: Jessica Fabus Cheng - Change the rules, change the game. Jessica reveals what it takes to disrupt legacy industries, lead with clarity, and carve your own lane with confidence.
Episode 274: Michael Walsh Freedom Series Pt. 12:
The evolution continues. In this chapter, Michael explores the connection between freedom and focus—and why designing your time is the ultimate act of leadership.
Episode 275: Jeff Wetzler - Jeff mpowers leaders to uncover hidden truths—asking the right questions in a safe, curious way so that the real ideas, concerns, and insights in your team emerge and drive smarter decisions and breakthrough impact.
Episode 276: Courtney Ramsey - equips us with practical skills in people management, conflict resolution, and strategic alignment to help teams thrive and retention improve.
Stay connected with Paper Napkin Wisdom on Apple, YouTube, and Spotify to be the first to hear these incredible episodes!
Your Thoughts Are Not Facts: The Leadership Superpower Hiding in Plain Sight
We often assume that if a thought arises, it must mean something. After all, we’re smart, capable, experienced — why wouldn’t our thoughts be valid? But here’s the hard truth that every leader, entrepreneur, and difference-maker eventually confronts:
Your thoughts are not facts.
Just because you think something — about yourself, someone else, or a situation — doesn’t make it true. In fact, some of your most strongly held beliefs might be your biggest blind spots.
Learning to observe your thoughts without automatically believing them is one of the most powerful shifts a leader can make. It’s the difference between reacting and responding, between staying stuck and choosing to grow.
And in business, this mental shift is not optional. It’s vital.
Thought ≠ Truth
Let’s break this down.
Sometimes the thoughts that trip us up aren’t about strategy or data. They’re about us.
- “I’m not a good leader — I’m just winging it.”
- “I’m bad at sales.”
- “They don’t respect me.”
- “If I take a break, everything will fall apart.”
- “They’re not giving me feedback because they’re happy with how I’m doing.”
These aren’t facts. These are stories. And the more we repeat them, the more power they have over us.
The work is learning to say: “This is just a thought. Is it actually true?”
In Business, Your Thoughts Can Betray You
We think we know who our ideal customer is. But do we?
Can we describe them with precision — not just demographics, but psychographics, buying behavior, language, values? Are they "ideal" because they match our assumptions, or because they see us, get us, and value us?
Often, we’re focused on the customers we’ve trained ourselves to see, rather than those who are truly drawn to our differentiated value. Your thoughts might tell you who your customer is — but your data, feedback, and results may tell a different story. Are you listening?
We Think We Know What They Want
We also think we know what our customer wants — but where is that idea coming from?
Is it based on our deep understanding of our products and services, or is it rooted in what our customers are actually saying? Are we listening for what they love about us? Are we doubling down on the things our competitors wish they could say?
Our thoughts often prioritize what we believe to be important. But the customer’s experience is the only place that real insight lives.
We Think We Know What Winning Looks Like
In the boardroom or Zoom room, it’s easy to assume everyone is aligned. That we're chasing the same vision. That we all see "winning" the same way.
But here’s the real question: What’s on everyone’s scoreboard?
Are we measuring the same things? Do we all know — not just guess — what our 3–5 key strategic moves are this quarter or this year? Are they simple, permanent, and clearly understood by the team?
Or are we busy chasing different targets under the illusion of unity?
We Think We're Set Up to Win — But Are We?
Execution is where thoughts get tested. Most teams believe they’re executing well, until they actually measure it.
- Are you only tracking results, or are you also measuring leading indicators — the behaviors and inputs that create results?
- Are you integrating outcomes across clients, profits, and team development — or just hitting numbers while burning people out?
- Do your people know their title or their role? (Hint: only one of those helps them perform.)
- Are you practicing in private — or learning in public with your customers?
You might think your business is humming. But being busy is not the same as being profitable, sustainable, and aligned.
Personal Growth Demands Critical Thinking, Too
Here’s the wild part: it’s not just your business thoughts that need testing.
Your inner narrative might be steering you away from opportunities and into the familiar comfort of “what you’ve always believed.”
- “I don’t speak well under pressure.”
- “I’m too late to reinvent myself.”
- “People like me don’t get those kinds of breaks.”
- “It’s selfish to focus on my own growth.”
- “They’re not responding to my message — that must mean I’m not good enough.”
Every one of those thoughts feels true in the moment. But unless you challenge them, they become silent saboteurs.
From Thought to Insight
Leadership begins when we realize that thoughts are starting points, not destinations. They’re hypotheses, not truths.
When you make the shift from believing your thoughts to observing and testing them, you begin to lead with clarity.
You start to ask better questions.
You create space for feedback.
You learn faster.
You lead with humility.
And most of all, you become a leader others trust — because you’re no longer trapped by your own internal echo chamber.
Want to Lead Better?
Try this today:
- Catch a thought you assume is true — something you’ve believed for a while.
- Ask yourself: Is this a fact? Or is it just something I’ve been thinking for a long time?
- Test it: Ask your team. Ask your customer. Look at the data.
- Adjust accordingly. Let go of what’s not serving you.
The Bottom Line
Your thoughts are not facts.
And when you treat them as such, you limit your leadership to what you already know — rather than what you could learn.
So lead with curiosity, not certainty.
Your best insights are just beyond your most confident assumptions.
What’s one thought you’ve been believing that might not be true?
✳️ FOCUS–ALIGN–ACT
“Your Thoughts Are Not Facts”
🔍 FOCUS
Shift From Believing to Observing Your Thoughts
“We don’t see the world as it is. We see it as we are.”
As leaders, we must recognize that our thoughts are not always grounded in truth — they’re shaped by experience, ego, fear, and even fatigue. And when we lead from unexamined thoughts, we risk making decisions based on fiction, not fact.
To focus with clarity:
- Separate thought from fact. Start by identifying what’s a belief vs. what’s observable.
- Look for assumptions. What are you assuming is true about your team, customer, or market?
- Replace certainty with curiosity. Certainty stops growth. Curiosity creates momentum.
Napkin Insight:What’s one thought you’ve been holding onto that might be false — and costing you clarity?
🧭 ALIGN
Invite Dialogue, Data, and Shared Reality
“Alignment isn’t everyone saying the same thing — it’s everyone seeing the same thing.”
When thoughts go untested, misalignment creeps in. We assume everyone is playing the same game with the same scoreboard. That’s dangerous.
To create true alignment:
- Validate what your customer actually values. Use feedback loops, not gut instincts.
- Test your internal scoreboard. Do your team’s priorities match the strategy — or just their job descriptions?
- Align around reality, not assumption. Don’t “think” your strategy is clear. Know it is. Share it until it echoes.
Napkin Insight:Are your people clear on the 3–5 permanent strategic moves that matter most — or are you leading by hope?
🛠 ACT
Build Feedback Loops and Practice Mental Discipline
“Busy is not aligned. Belief is not execution. Thinking is not knowing.”
We act based on what we believe — but if those beliefs are faulty, so is the execution.
To act with intention:
- Install feedback loops (with customers and your team) to test what’s working.
- Train your team to separate facts from feelings. Normalize questioning thoughts without judgment.
- Use leading indicators. Don’t just measure results — measure what causes them.
- Practice publicly. Develop your team in front of customers, not just behind closed doors. Excellence grows in the open.
Napkin Insight:
Are you scaling clarity, alignment, and leadership — or just scaling motion?
The Paper Napkin Wisdom Gratitude Ritual
We believe wisdom should be simple, powerful, and shareable — and that’s exactly what this is.
Introducing The Paper Napkin Wisdom Gratitude Ritual — your step-by-step blueprint to turning any dinner table into a space of deeper connection, shared wisdom, and lasting memories. Whether it's Thanksgiving, a team offsite, or a quiet evening with loved ones, this guide makes it easy for anyone to lead a meaningful moment.
🖊️ Just grab some napkins and pens — we’ll take care of the rest.
For a limited time, we’re offering this at 50% off — only $2.50. Why? Because we want more families, teams, and circles of friends to start traditions that truly matter.
Create a memory. Start a tradition. Make it stick — one napkin at a time.
Week in Review
In Episode 266, Darren Hickman — former Disney executive and master of emotional branding — shares a powerful insight: “Nearly all decisions are driven by emotions… How you can leverage that in business.” With decades of experience helping global brands connect more deeply with customers and teams, Darren walks us through why emotion is the true driver of human behavior. He explains that while logic helps us justify decisions, it’s emotion that actually makes them. From neuroscience to storytelling, Darren unpacks the tools that create emotional resonance, showing how stories bypass skepticism, emotional leadership builds loyalty, and authenticity outshines polish. Whether you’re leading a team or building a brand, this episode is a masterclass in how to move people by making them feel.
In Episode 267, Marc Dann — former Ohio Attorney General turned relentless advocate for consumer rights — delivers a raw and inspiring truth: “Get up. Get dressed. People are counting on you.” This mantra, born from Marc’s personal comeback after a high-profile resignation, is more than a motivational slogan — it’s a daily practice rooted in resilience and purpose. In this episode, Marc opens up about leading through failure, reclaiming impact, and why presence matters more than perfection. Whether it’s serving clients in crisis or simply showing up when it’s hard, Marc’s wisdom is a call to all leaders: leadership isn't about how you feel — it's about who’s counting on you to show up.
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