Opinion: strongly expressed opinions help me discover mine
December 19th, 2020
When an opinion is expressed strongly, as an absolute
I can feel it resonate when it matches my values.
or
I can feel the friction when it does not.
When an opinion is expressed weakly, it's pretty much useless in this aspect.
I think, maybe it would be better if we would try x instead?
I won't get this reaction, or if it does it will be very muted.
Another way to hide an opinion is Model: Leading Questions.
Shouldn't we do x instead?
Wouldn't x be a better approach?
All this uncertainty get's in the way.
I often find myself doing that when I'm not feeling psychologically safe.
Environments where I feel safe, something interesting happens:
I express an opinion strongly, when I'm not sure whether it matches my values.
And it allows me to
feel it resonate when it matches my values.
or
feel the friction when it does not.
Even expressing an opinion myself, helps me discover the same things!
With vague ideas it's hard to tell, but once I express them clearly, it's easy to tell!
Expressing it towards someone works better than expressing it towards myself.
When I'm alone, I can imagine me expressing that opinion towards someone else.
But it works best when expressed to a person, in person, aloud.