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The Real Art of Persuasion: The Secrets to Winning No Matter What
How You Win an Argument in Any Situation
The first step is to understand the situation your end goal. Are you simply seeking to destroy your opponent? Is it important to get your own way? Or do you just like winding people up?
It all comes down to three possible goals:
- Convince your opponent they’re wrong no matter what
- Prove to the audience your opponent is wrong and gain support
- Search for the truth through respectful and meaningful challenges
Ultimately these form your definition of “winning”. Winning takes many forms as we’ll discuss further.
Sometimes it can be a combination of all three but for each an entirely different style of debate is required. In many cases it’s important to remain fluid and dynamically switch styles depending on your opponent.
Which you choose depends on your aim, your ethics and, maybe, just how you feel at the time. But be warned, while some of these techniques are devious and underhanded, they can be defeated by someone more practised at them than you. Practise then practise again.
