Dealing with being Wrong
I absolutely hate being wrong. This probably comes as no surprise to you, and I’m sure most people would agree with me on this. However, unlike most people out there I am quick to admit to it when I am, or have been, wrong. In fact, I’m constantly looking for things that prove me wrong. I’m constantly challenging myself, everything I know and everything I believe in. I even try my best to help people prove to me that I’m wrong. This is the important difference between me and most people. I hate being wrong, but I like finding out about it.
Like I wrote before, there’s nothing wrong with not liking when you’re wrong, but you have to know how to deal with it. It shouldn’t make you take the wrong decision, namely to refuse to admit to it and not taking the steps to do something about it. Often people refuse to even consider the fact that they might be wrong, let alone admitting to it. Even though you may not like the fact that you might be wrong, you should be willing to take a look at it and be able to admit to it the moment you start to realize you’re wrong and take appropriate actions immediately. This benefits not only you, but everyone else around you. And most of the time the biggest benefits are for you, especially for the long term.
Just think about it, the sooner you can find out that you were wrong and the sooner you admit to it, the sooner you can start to learn from your mistakes and improve yourself and your situation. This is one of the most important reasons why I love finding out when I’m wrong and even prefer to know this as soon as possible. It’s why I keep myself open to any information, suggestions, remarks etc. from anyone and anywhere, so that I can challenge myself with it as soon as possible. When you’re able to do this the right way (you have to be able to be very objective and have nothing to lose), you improve and grow much faster as a person compared to people who can’t. Those who can’t, stick with bad ideas and assumptions much longer with all the disadvantages that come with that, often not only for themselves but sadly also for people around them.
There are many reasons why people can’t easily admit when they’re wrong or simply refuse to even consider it. Often it’s just ego or fear for the consequences. Admitting that you’re wrong might mean losing an argument, having to change your beliefs about something, far reaching changes in your life and even losing important things that you may have. So it might not be very easy to admit to being wrong, but the benefits of doing it are always greater because of the simple fact that if you continue on the wrong path, it will only continue to get worse because of the snowball effect it will have. If you continue to hold on to the wrong assumptions for example, every decision you make based on that will likely be wrong, and anything you do based on those decisions will likely also be wrong and on and on it goes.
So in summary: Absolutely hate being wrong, but for that reason, love finding out about it as soon as possible. The sooner you correct yourself, the sooner you can start to improve. And to be able to correct yourself requires that you first realize and then admit that you’re wrong. To be able to realize when you’re wrong requires that you keep an open mind, be objective and willing to challenge yourself and your opinions at any time and have no fear of losing anything. And again, it’s not easy but for those who are able to do this the benefits are huge, especially for the long term.
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