There was a time in my life when I just had to be right. I would go to great lengths to prove to the other party(s) how right I was. Funny thing, no one ever thanked me for setting them straight. For all the knowledge I had :P, people rarely asked me to enlighten them.
It can take a long time to figure out you’re just being a jerk! Now I try hard to keep my trap shut. I’m not perfect and sometimes slip back into know-it-all-ness, but the predictable response back reminds me that it’s not always right to be right.
Gail Blanke suggests four questions to ask yourself next time you’re feeling “right”:
- Do I want to be right, or do I want to be happy?
- What’s more important to me: making someone wrong for the moment or having a great long-term relationship?
- What would happen if I let go of the urge to correct and concentrated instead on the rewards of connecting?
- Could I let someone else be right for just a minute before I say what I think?
1 comment:
wow. an enlightening post. those are powerful questions. :)
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