Now You Would You Characterize Yourself?

Would you say you’re more open minded?  Or are you more opinionated?

The Choice

To be fair, we all have opinions.  And, we all like to think of ourselves as open minded.  How often do you hear anyone admit to being closed minded?  Perhaps not in those words.  What about admitting to stubbornness?  Some stubborn folks might admit to this trait while others stubbornly deny their relentless inflexibility. The fair answer to the Opinionated vs. Open-Minded question is YES!  We need to practice both: in moderation.  The more important question is:

How do you prevent your strong opinions from becoming limiting blind spots?

Open-Mindedness:  Is It a Skill or an Attitude?

Here again the answer is YES.  In order to develop your skills for listening and accepting new possibilities, you need to both practice and be aware that your opinions and even your emotions could be holding you back.  Who wants to discover they’re wrong about something? One of the strongest human needs is The Need to Be Right.

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“Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.”    – Galbraith

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How can you be better than almost everyone else? How much of your busy time do you spend trying to prove you’re right? If you want to be truly open to new possibilities, you must be able to ask yourself:  Have I been wrong about that?  Then give yourself permission to say YES. If you can summon enough emotional intelligence to swallow your pride, the results can be liberating.

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