Talk it through with Aurelius
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Aurelius · Work & Leadership
Knowledge + Guidance

What if one wrong assumption in my model breaks everything?

You check the numbers again. Not because they're wrong, but because a committee will use them to spend real money, and if you missed something, it feels like your fault. That's the story you've been telling yourself. Here is what's actually happened: you've placed the weight of every decision the company makes onto your own shoulders, then wondered why you can't sleep. The model is yours. The decision is not. You built a tool. Other people chose to trust it, use it, act on it — with their own judgment, their own authority, their own name on the outcome. The anxiety isn't telling you to work harder or check one more cell. It's telling you that you've quietly accepted a job nobody assigned you: guardian of every result downstream of your work. That job isn't yours. Give it back.

◆ How this problem reads on the two dials
GuidanceKnowledge
More coaching
A little to learn
1:1 with AureliusWith others (a Pod)
Mostly you & the coach
A little with peers
This is a boundary he must see clearly and practice drawing, not information he's missing — so coaching does most of the work.
How the two dials adapt to you →
What’s really going on

You are not responsible for every decision built on your work. You build the model; others choose to act on it. Carrying their judgment as your own is not diligence — it's a boundary you've never drawn. Draw it. Do the work well. Let the decision belong to whoever made it.

🔒 What you’ll build togetherUnlock by starting
A moveWrite down, in one sentence, what your model actually claims. Nothing more.
A moveName — out loud, to yourself — who makes the decision after the model leaves your hands. Use their actual name.
A moveBefore you ship, put every key assumption in writing and hand it to the decision-maker directly. Do not bury it in a footnote.
A moveWhen you're checking a number at 11pm, ask yourself: is this mine to fix, or theirs to decide? Act only if it's the first.
A moveThis week, refuse one request to 'just double-check' something that isn't your error. Send it to the person who owns the decision.

What changes unlock by starting

  • You ship a model and sleep that night, because you've separated your work from their choice.
  • You stop absorbing blame for decisions you did not make.
  • Your conversations with decision-makers get sharper, because you state assumptions instead of hiding from them.
  • The anxious re-checking drops, because you've finally found where your job ends.
One object, two jobs: a public answer to a real problem, and — the moment you start the chat — Aurelius’s live plan for your version of it.