Being Right

Sometimes when you are arguing or trying to convince somebody of something, your main concern is not so much discovering the truth or having an interesting conversation. Sometimes you just want them to accept what you are saying a right, whether or not it is true. This can be useful in parenting, sales, marketing and all kinds of situations where you need to be right even when you know you are wrong.

Assert Rightness: Just say that you are right.

Ambiguous Statements: Many ways of being right.

Avoid Objections: Do not give them reasons to disagree.

Be Mostly Right: Let the exception prove the rule.

Challenge Priorities: Change what is more important.

Change the Rules: Change the way success is measured.

Creating Truth: Finding and making things true.

Criticize Research: Attack research that stands against you.

Mind-reading: Tell them what they are thinking.

Ignore Objections: Avoid attempts at exposure.

Misquote Research: Use real research to support arguments.

Predict Future Rightness: Say you'll be proved right.

Pre-excusing: Excuse yourself before you begin.

Pre-thanking: Thank you for...

Progressive Guesswork: Guess and correct.

Reframe Criteria: Change how decisions are made.

Reversal Tagging: Use opposing statements together.

Sow Seeds of Doubt: Make them doubt themselves.

Strategic Forgetting: Forget inconvenient things.

The Mystic Fog: Things reveal themselves slowly.

Use Fallacies: Use fake reasoning.

Win the Game: Play to win by understanding the game.

Be careful when pushing for something to be true as this can get you stuck on a track which only leads to your failure. Keep the truth fluid so you can change it at will.

Many of the methods suggested here are deliberately deceptive. Remember that while deceit can work it only does so if others do not realize the deceit or are unable to oppose it. If they know what you are doing, then they may be very unhappy and get revenge by subtle means. So do be careful.

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Being Right

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