On Being Yourself · 3 min read
How to Be Wrong in Public
The people you admire have changed their minds more, not less.
I used to defend positions I no longer believed because I had said them out loud. It felt like integrity. It was actually vanity.
The people I have come to trust most are the ones who can say, without ceremony, I was wrong about that. They do not perform contrition. They just update, and move on, and are lighter for it.
Practice this early. Say it small, say it often, so that when a large one comes it does not break you. Being wrong is not a wound to your identity. It is evidence that your identity is still alive.
Written slowly. Read as slowly as you like.