If You Are Wrong, Admit It And Change

First published on May 29, 2019

I wrote an article for this series - all written in about 12 minutes, proof-read once and then posted - and then for the first time in almost three years of this practice, I'm not posting it. I'm writing this instead.

I wrote it about the flaws in Oxfam's rich list and the incredible Grievance Studies scandal, which seems to cast doubt on the validity of whole sections of our cultural thinking, and when I came back to it to publish it, I felt like I couldn't. Because I wasn't sure I was right. Well, I was pretty sure I was right about some of it, most of it, but there was a flaw in the logic - potentially - which meant that if I posted it I might be wrong.

Then, I was stuck in something: because the title of the post was the title of the post was going to be when you realise you're wrong, admit it and change. And, I was stuck because the work I am doing on myself right now is to be more comfortable speaking about things out in the world. To be more comfortable speaking the truth as I see it. Not to let the people who shout others down and call others out grind me down.

And, I'm always on the journey of outfoxing that old devil, Resistance.

So, what do I do? Do I post the piece, even though I suspect that there's a flaw in my logic and storytelling, even though I think the conclusion I reach is right. That would, after all, give me a chance to live out the aims of the piece, admitting I'm wrong and changing it?

Or do I - given I already suspect that in some ways I am 'wrong' - change it straight away?

And, I'm someone who writes. I need to publish something, as part of my practice.

I decided not to share the piece I'd written, and I'm about 60% sure (as I proof read this, I'm 90% sure) that this isn't Resistance getting me. This article, it seems as I write this, is about me unpacking why. I want to speak out more. That's part of my work on myself, and as time goes on I believe more and more that it needs to be part of our work on ourselves for almost all of us. There do seem to be parts of society, as highlighted by the Grievance Studies scandal, and probably encouraged by the Twittersphere, which shuts down our ability to speak about certain things. There are other parts of society, like those at Rebel Wisdom who organised a summit structured around saying what you feel unable to say, focused on empowering people to speak up.

At the Rebel Wisdom summit, one of the speakers said something which allowed me to drop down, even deeper into something which I believe to be the truth: that in the complexity of the modern world, where changing one thing slightly can shift everything else and we can't be sure of the impact of the things we do, there is really only one thing you can do. That is to do work on yourself, to continue to deepen yourself so that you are aware of all the unique gifts and struggles you have. To become more and more able to live as what Steven Pressfield would call your Higher Self, and what Jordan Hall would call being sovereign. As you do that, you can see the truth more and more clearly, and be more and more sure that the things you are saying come from that higher and deeper part of you. If you don't do that work, then you can't be sure they don't come from your baser parts, your more animal instincts. And then, if things go wrong, it really is your fault. You can't say 'at least I did my best'. Because you didn't.

So we all need to speak up more. And we all need to do work on ourselves, to make sure that when we speak up we are speaking from the deepest wisdom available to us.

But also we have to be careful. We have to be careful because we want to take people with us. And we have to be careful because there seems to be a culture war going on, and there is a lot of fear that each or any of us may be jumped on for our views, no matter how well-meaning they are.

This practice - the 12 minute article - has limits, and some of them appear when trying to express deeply nuanced ideas. I have got better at that over three years, but I am not perfect and I couldn't do it with my last attempt.

I hope I was right to reset the game, and press play again with this piece. But, even as I did that, I think I didn't quite just reset it. Because I'm doing my own work as I did press reset. And one of the messages of this piece is the same as the message of the other: if you are wrong - even slightly wrong, even in just the way you are telling a story, even when the conclusion is still true - admit it and change.