Prove them right! Not wrong.
Published: 9 September, 2021 | Last updated: 24 March, 2024 | 2 mins(s) read | Tags: #opinion
Conversations are important to learn and understand things better. It is one of the fundamental ways we learn and grow. It helps us to reach conclusions and validates our thoughts/ideas on what is “right” and what is “wrong”. But if you have observed, we end up having conversations which are pretty much one sided most times. Or it ends up being a debate where the last man standing wins. A productive conversation is getting hard to come by these days. Cos we have our own knowledge that defines what is right and what is wrong. That is not the problem though. The problem is that we are not ready to open up to the idea that we could be wrong about what is “right” and what is “wrong”.
So how could we understand our biases better? How can we open up to the idea that we could be wrong? How can we have more productive conversations? An easy way to test your biases is to try to talk to the person you are having conversations and prove them right! Thereby trying to prove yourself “wrong”. This puts your thoughts and ideas into testing and helps you listen. So instead of noding along until the person stops talking so that you can prove them wrong, you tolerate and hopefullly listen better about what the other person has to say.
This also makes it easy for you to callout your own biases easily in a conversation. To be very clear, this doesn’t mean you should defend everything the other person says though. It is just a simple test to check how biased you are when going into a conversation. Where the byproduct could be better listening and tolerance to opposite views.
This only works when you are open to the possibility of thinking that you could be wrong. So be open next time you are having a conversation. Try to prove them “right” when you are trying to have a conversation with someone. And maybe you would be able to uncover your biases. Or validate your thoughts. So, prove them right. Not wrong!
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