Stories and hope

Anecdotes are not data. If you’re looking for data, hearing a story about what happened to a friend that one time shouldn’t crowd out your rational decision making.

But hope is real.

When someone you know is facing a difficult situation, sharing a positive anecdote about that friend who that one time made it through something just like this–that’s helpful. It’s not helpful data, but it’s a useful hook for hope. And hope amplifies our story of possibility and might make it easier for us to get to where we’re going.

On the other hand, sharing the anecdote about that time everything blew up and failed–that’s not hopeful and that’s not helpful.

Better data is better data. But stories can (and should) be used as fuel.