Is it worth it?

Is it really better overall to let people push you around, or would it be better to be confident in yourself and occasionally deal with a bad reaction?

Look, reactions can be bad.

You might lose your job—but it was probably a bad job anyway.

Your partner might leave you, but in that case, it wasn’t a good connection to begin with.

You might get embarrassed in front of everyone, but they'll forget about it eventually.

Yes, these things may happen.

I was at a pub one time, and a random girl tried to steal a chair from our table. My friend had just gone to the toilet, so I held onto the chair, and she started punching me in the head. It was bizarre. So yes, harm can happen. I'm not pretending it can’t. But it’s very, very rare.

The real harm, though, comes from constantly giving in to manipulation.

That harm is constant and guaranteed.

I spent years working with some of the most dangerous criminal offenders—some of the most manipulative people you can imagine.

Do you know what the worst thing that happened most of the time was?

A bit of awkwardness. That’s it.

When you really hold strong against a manipulator, you’ll realize their real secret weapon—the thing they rely on—is awkwardness.

It’s the discomfort of disagreement, the dissonance between two people.

However, awkwardness doesn’t do anything to you. Sure, you might squirm on the inside while it’s happening, but have a look over your body, where are the awkwardness scars?

To dive deeper into this topic, check out the original video here:

https://youtu.be/hbKGmggi21Y

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