Winning the debate at dinner and losing the lesson inside it is a terrible trade.

Arguments offer two possible prizes and you can usually only take one. Defending your position well feels like the win, and it often means you spent the conversation building rebuttals rather than weighing whether any of it was accurate. The person across the table may have been handing you something useful. Winning the room and leaving unchanged is a poor exchange.

In the next disagreement, look for the one sentence you would have to accept if you were being fair. Say that part out loud before you argue with the rest. You can hold your position and still take what was true in theirs.