Change Someone’s Mind With the Trinity of Evidence, Perseverance, and Empathy
If you want to change someone’s mind on this topic, you probably feel like the only thing you really need is proof. However, in order to truly reach someone, you need to empathize and perseverance in this equation in equal measure.
The problem with convincing someone to change their mind is that most of us are inherently resistant to admitting that we are wrong. Sometimes that’s good! If we gave up our beliefs every time someone linked to an article that sounded legal, we would have no beliefs at all. The downside to this is that it may take us a while to change our minds on a topic.
That’s why, as productivity writer Seth Godin points out, evidence isn’t the only thing you need to change the minds of those around you. You will also need empathy so you can see where they are coming from and persistence to keep the conversation going, even if you feel like you should just give up.
For the rest of us, however, a coup is not something that happens at first glance or when new evidence is encountered. This does not mean that the evidence is irrelevant. This means that we do not know how to admit that we are wrong. Poorly renounces one view of the world for the sake of another. Basically, we are bad at abandoning our peers, our habits and our view of ourselves.
If you want to change people’s minds, you need more than proof. You need persistence. And sympathy. And most of the time, you need the resources to keep appearing, breaking away from one person after another, surrounding a cultural issue with a cultural solution.
Naturally, part of the process of practicing empathy and perseverance is that you can also open yourself up to persuasion. It’s also good. The more you talk intelligently with someone you empathize with, the more likely it is that both of you will come to a mutual conclusion. All three elements are present in a healthy discussion. Take one away and it can go into fights, polarization and confusion from self-amplifying echo chamber bubbles that hate each other.
Throw elusive | Seth Godin