About this quote

Shutting down when someone disagrees with you is a slow way to ruin your own mind. Once you decide that talking and listening are useless, you lock yourself in a room with your own mistakes. It is easy to get angry and walk away from a difficult conversation. But refusing to talk things through means you choose ignorance over truth. Next time you feel your chest tighten during an argument, force yourself to stay and listen instead of shutting down.

When to use it

• When a coworker criticizes my project plan, my first reaction is to ignore their email. I catch myself and read it anyway, because shutting out feedback solves nothing.
• My partner and I always argue about our budget, and yesterday I almost walked out of the room. I stopped because refusing to talk only makes our money problems worse.
• During a study group, a classmate pointed out a major error in my math proof. Instead of getting defensive and quitting, I stayed to hear their explanation.