About this quote

Refusing to accept bad news wastes time and raises the cost of fixing things. When upsetting facts show up about work, health, or money, the sensible move is to act on what you actually know and adjust your plan. Ask who needs to be told and what concrete change will follow. It will feel uncomfortable at first, but facing the fact now keeps small problems from turning into far harder ones.

When to use it

• At my team's sprint retro when a feature failed in production, I said, 'The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it,' and we scheduled a hotfix and a postmortem.
• After getting a failing grade on a thesis draft, I told my advisor, 'The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it,' then set firm deadlines to rewrite the chapters.
• At the clinic when a test came back abnormal, I looked at the doctor and said, 'The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it,' and booked the follow-up scans.
• When my partner opened our banking app and the balance was lower than we thought, I said, 'The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it,' and we sat down to cut expenses.