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Data Hates Denial
When you ignore data, you embrace denial.
The cheeseburger had the same amount of calories whether I knew about
them or not. Data didn’t add calories to the meal; it just told me what they were.
It gave me everything I needed to make an educated decision in that moment. It
tried to help me and my current collection of pants.
I might have been frustrated—a cheeseburger is better than a salad; don’t
even bother arguing otherwise—but my anger was misguided.
We get mad because we focus on the wrong part of the phrase “Ignorance is
bliss.” We think data is trying to ruin our bliss and miss that it’s actually trying
to prevent us from being ignorant.
Denial makes you ignorant.
The most troubling aspect of denial is that the only people we can’t
recognize it in are ourselves. Spotting denial in other people is incredibly easy
and often pretty satisfying. Right now, it’s not difficult for you to call to mind a
friend who is deep in the throes of denial. They are driving a car they cannot
afford. They are on their fiftieth diet but continually enjoying “cheat days.” They
desperately want a new job but have not applied for any in six months. They are
dating an idiot whom they hope marriage will miraculously fix. (If marriage
doesn’t fix things, try having a baby together. That usually does the trick.)
Denial is neon in others and invisible in you.
Why did we discuss cutting our goals in half at the beginning of this book?
Because perfectionism was using denial against us. Perfectionism wanted us to
deny reality and chase goals so large we’d be crippled before we even started.
The athlete who didn’t swim, run, or bike much but wanted to do a 70-mile
triathlon was living in denial.
Your emotions cloud your judgment. They form a perfect smoke screen for
denial, making your path in life feel murky and confusing. In the fog of feelings,
it’s hard to see what’s really happening.
Data doesn’t lie, though. It is not swayed by emotion. It is not subject to the

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Data doesn’t lie, though. It is not swayed by emotion. It is not subject to the
drunken whims of feelings.
Disaster is always the final destination of denial.
No one ever says, “I just kept buying cat after cat after cat, until one day I
owned two hundred and things eventually worked themselves out. The cats
formed a tribunal and elected a governess who managed the feline community’s
day-to-day activities.”
No one ever says, “The more I surfed online during work, the higher my star
rose in the company.”
No one ever says, “The secret of my health success? Lard and Lucky
Strikes.”
There’s no denying where denial leads if we ignore data. The good news,
dare I say the great news, is this:
Data kills denial, which prevents disaster.
But only if you’ll listen to it.