If you seek truth you will not seek victory by dishonourable means, and if you find truth you will become invincible.

— Epictetus

CREATIVITY

WHAT THIS MEANS

Wanting to be right and wanting to win are different appetites, and only one of them requires cheating. If the goal is actually to know what is so, then a cheap rhetorical victory gets you nothing you wanted, and losing an argument becomes a form of profit. That is where the invincibility comes from: someone who cannot be beaten because being corrected is also a win. It is not a claim about never being defeated in a room.

In your next disagreement, decide before you start which you are after. If it is the truth, say so, and let the other person’s better argument count.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Would you still want to win if winning required cheating?

MORE IN GROWTH, CHANGE & REINVENTION

Free, with nothing to buy inside it.