Some of us are just naturally born with our heads screwed on a little too tightly; we’re militant enthusiasts when it comes to certain ideologies, beliefs or even rituals. We’re stubborn. We’re strong minded. We’re not easily swayed. We’re all these things and we love it. It’s not that we’re being purposefully inflexible or irritating. We just love a good debate and we crave a fulfilling discussion. We want someone with conflicting views to truly make the effort to convince us with their points of view. You probably have someone like that in your life and here’s exactly what we, stubborn people of this world, want. Here’s how you can successfully deal with us without anyone in the room popping a vein.
First and Foremost, Don’t Be a Total Douchebag:
I tried to find a more professional synonym for “douchebag,” but none came close to being half as expressive so excuse my French- back to the point at hand! Don’t throw around offensive comments and don’t attempt to belittle their opinions. That is simply not how any human being should attempt to carry a fruitful, civilized discussion. Also, don’t completely insult their views and then finish up your sentence with “no offence”- that’s basically just adding insult to injury.
Attempt to Reach a Compromise:
Win-win is always better than win-lose or lose-lose. If you want to try and convince a stubborn person to do something your way and they just won’t have it, simply try and calmly discuss a possible alternative that will make both parties satisfied at some point. Don’t throw your hands in the air and attempt to force something on someone- nothing ever gets done that way.
Listen. Yeah, It’s That Simple:
We’re a very reactive species. We immediately react to whatever triggers the slightest urge for us to act. Thus, we end up talking more than listening. When you listen, though, you give yourself an edge in an argument- you get more time to assess the situation and you give yourself a chance to truly understand what the other person is thinking about so you can think of effective ways to respond. Plus, constantly interrupting someone will just cause more irritation to rise up in the room and God knows you don’t want to add more gasoline to the fire.
To wrap this up, it’s quite simple to deal with a stubborn person, if you’re both patient and tactical enough. I mean, all it takes is some logic to smoothly get by in a debate and even win it. You need to be convincing, precise, calm and insightful. It is, at times, truly tempting to just lose your temper, throw a tantrum and completely offend the person in front of you, but what good does that ever do, right?
