Useful Not True cover art

Useful Not True

Preview
Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Useful Not True

By: Derek Sivers
Narrated by: Derek Sivers
Try Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $9.68

Buy Now for $9.68

About this listen

“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.

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.

©2024 Sivers Inc (P)2026 Sivers Inc
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.