Changing my motto

I've recently really been thinking about design and how the tenants from design can be used to improve how well I think and how well I can create. Something that recently struck me is the mental devotion to certainty that I've developed. Design thinking is in many ways about how to embrace uncertainty, sort of moving from a deductive mindset to an abductive mindset. To that end I've been thinking about on of my favorite ways to probe the sources of a statement. Often when someone says we should do a certain thing, I would ask "do you think that or do you know that". By forcing people to separate out what they think they know from what they know for sure I've noticed that people become far more critical of what they are proclaiming. The danger with that is that there is certain strength in what people think. The universe of "think" is a universe of possibilities that are non-existent in the universe of "know". From now on, when I ask "do you think or do you know" it will not be to cast out what is thought into the wind but only to gain clarity. Thinking is as good as knowing, it just has a different purpose.