Know three things you won’t do for money, popularity or a crush. Decide before the moment shows up.

Decisions made in the moment get made by whoever is in the room, and the moment is built to be persuasive: everyone is watching, it is late, saying no would be a scene. A line drawn in advance works differently, because it has already been argued about while you were calm. You are not deciding then. You are reporting what you decided.

Pick three and keep them short enough to remember under pressure. Not the vague ones, the specific ones: this substance, this lie, this person’s property. Say them once in your head on the way to the thing.