New, Useful, True — The High-Agency Thinking Test
Interrogate each thought against three filters to separate progress from rumination
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 72%
George Mack reframes the tired 'overthinking vs introspection' debate by replacing loaded words with a three-part test. Rumination, he argues, has three tells: the thoughts aren't new (they repeat and cycle), they aren't useful (they replay a scenario instead of solving it), and most importantly they aren't even true. High-agency thinking is the inverse: new, useful, and true. When a thought fails all three filters, you drop it; when it passes, it tends to encourage action rather than more thinking, because low-agency thinking breeds more rumination while high-agency thinking moves you forward. The test is deliberately simple so it can be run in real time on any looping thought, giving people who are predisposed to overthink a concrete way to break the loop and build a bias for action.
Origin
George Mack articulated this on Modern Wisdom while unpacking the difference between rumination and introspection, noting the word 'rumination' comes from how a cow re-chews its cud. He wanted new vocabulary because the old debate collapses into a game of semantics.
Core principles
- 01Rumination is low-agency thinking; it loops without moving you toward action
- 02Most repetitive thoughts are old, useless, and untrue
- 03High-agency thinking generates thoughts that are new, useful, and true
- 04Useful thoughts point toward how to fix a problem, not just replay it
- 05New, useful, true thoughts naturally pull you toward a bias for action
How to run it
- 1
Notice the loop
Catch the moment a thought is cycling, replaying the same scenario again and again rather than progressing anywhere.
Pro tip The feeling of re-chewing the same worry is the signal, just like a cow ruminating on old food.
- 2
Test for NEW
Ask whether the thought is genuinely new information or just a repeat. Most looping thoughts are old and repetitive.
Watch out If you have thought this exact thing before with no new input, it is almost certainly rumination.
- 3
Test for USEFUL
Ask whether the thought points toward a way to fix the problem. Useless thoughts merely replay a situation instead of solving it.
Pro tip Reframe the thought as a question: 'What could I do about this?' If no answer forms, it fails.
- 4
Test for TRUE
Ask whether the thought is actually true. Mack's key claim is that most of the thoughts we ruminate on aren't even true.
Watch out This is the hardest and most important filter; catastrophic predictions usually fail it.
- 5
Drop or convert
If a thought fails all three filters, discard it. If it passes, channel it into a concrete next action while thinking through initial risks and the downside.
Pro tip A thought that is new, useful, and true tends to pull you toward action on its own.
In the wild
An analytical founder lies awake replaying a tense email exchange from that afternoon, imagining every way the client might be angry. Running the test, they find the thought is not new (they have looped on it for hours), not useful (it proposes no fix), and not true (the catastrophic reaction is invented, not observed). All three fail, so they drop it. The next morning they replace it with one new, useful, true thought — 'I can send a two-line clarification' — and act on it before breakfast.
→ The rumination loop breaks and a single concrete action replaces hours of unproductive worry.
Common mistakes
Applying it to people who act too rashly
The test is medicine for chronic overthinkers. Handed to someone already impulsive, it can rationalize even less reflection — the advice-hyper-responder trap where guidance makes you more of what you already are.
Skipping the TRUE filter
People run the new and useful checks but skip truth, which Mack calls the most important. Most ruminative thoughts collapse precisely because they aren't true.
Is it for you?
Best for
Analytical people who ruminate, journal, and plan yet struggle to convert thinking into action.
Not ideal for
Impulsive people who already act too rashly and actually need to think more before deciding.
From the transcript
“most of your thoughts aren't new. They're repetitive. They're cycling... most of your thoughts aren't useful... the most important part is that most of them…”
“when you're in low agency thinking is uh new, useful, true. And if you can have new thoughts, if you can find useful thoughts, and…”
“Are you progressing or are you ruminating?”
From the episode
The Hidden Cost Of Overthinking Everything - George Mack - #1111
George Mack