Give Up the Need to Be Right - FOW # 4

Keep your ego, your personal agenda, and your judgments out of the way of doing what’s best for the team or the customer. Don’t let being right interfere with being able to hear others and see possible new solutions you haven’t seen before.

Give up the need to be right? But I might die!

Have you ever been faced with an opportunity to give up being right, only to feel like you might die if you do?

WARNING: Practicing this fundamental may go against your basic survival instincts.

(Is it ironic justice that this portion of our brain commands us from the RIGHT hemisphere?)

Being right can damage your health

There are side effects to letting that cherry-shaped part of our noggin take over. Emotional stress impacts our metabolism, digestion, heart health, sleep, immunities and even our sex drive.Furthermore “stress mind” is not where our most considerate, creative and intelligent decisions originate.

It’s also at moments like this when this week’s fundamental is most useful.

Personally speaking, I’d say somewhere between 98-100% of my suffering arises and thrives when I’m being right. Sometimes I see it coming and back off, but sometimes I see it coming and force the issue right on through anyway.When I do that, I demonstrate the opposite of this fundamental, and I never EVER win. Even if I do win, I lose. I lose connection, affinity, wellbeing and all authentic power.

It’s a strange set-up with clear byproducts.

Here we are given this enormous drive that you could equate to the force of a teenagers hormones, with equally little control over its powers. It’s kind of like being behind the wheel of a 300 MPH drag racer with no steering wheel. What are the chances that is going to turn out well?I’m guessing like me, you deal with this on more occasions than you’d like. Most times you give up the need to be right, and yet, sometimes you don’t.

Optimistic Prognosis

It’s never too late to give up the need to be right. Even in the aftermath when the smoke has cleared, we can go back and apologize. There are times I do that immediately. Sometimes I take longer than I should, but I’m improving.No matter how much it may feel like it, no one ever died from giving up the need to be right. In fact, due to all the adverse effects, practicing this fundamental may actually extend your life, but … results may vary.