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It conflates exposing your reasoning with being open to debate. I can perfectly well state my decision, make it clear that it's final, while also explaining it.
by rpdillon 5y ago
It conflates exposing your reasoning with being open to debate. I can perfectly well state my decision, make it clear that it's final, while also explaining it. This, for example, is exactly how courts work.
I agree with some others here: this advice is not useful often enough to go unqualified. It may make sense to frame it more in terms of "In situations where there the person is unknown and the communication is unsolicited, don't explain yourself."
I suspect 99% of my daily interactions would not benefit from advice. Perhaps I'm an outlier.
- omginternets 5y agoHmm… the bit about how explanations invite insistence jives with my experience. Not offering an explanation (again, in the appropriate context) has worked astonishingly well for me, personally. Like you, I suspect that 99% of my daily interactions would be degraded if I applied this rule. However, the remaining 1% happen to cause the most pain, and it’s precisely here that the articles advice rings true.