Disagreeing can be frustrating but there can also be great value in it. When you disagree with someone -- whether it be in a relationship or political discussion -- instead of digging in your heels and blindly defending your position, you can use it as an opportunity to gain a better understanding of a person or viewpoint. Of course, this isn’t easy. In this episode, I discuss four obstacles that keep us from disagreeing constructively, along with several strategies for overcoming them.

#23: How to Disagree Constructively

Where personal development meets real life. Ruben Chavez explores a variety of topics with thought leaders, scientists, creators, artists, entrepreneurs and other interesting people to bring you different perspectives you can use to enrich your mind and improve your life in whatever way you see fit.

Ruben is a writer and personal development educator. He has created a community of over 3 million people across different platforms, including his Instagram page (@ThinkGrowProsper), blog (thinkgrowprosper.com), and podcast.

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I’ve put together a short list of tips for engaging with people who hold views contrary to your own. The internet makes it easy to live inside our own little content bubbles where we are protected from any viewpoints other than those with which we already agree. But this is a big problem. When we aren't exposed to opposing perspectives, we don’t learn how to relate to the people who hold them.  In the same way that dealing with challenges makes us better and more resilient, exposure to opposing viewpoints makes us intellectually sharper and more insightful. PLEASE SUPPORT THIS EPISODE'S SPONSOR: Skillshare is an online learning community with over 25,000 courses. They are extending an offer to listeners of the Think Grow Podcast - two months FREE! You can take advantage of this offer at skillshare.com/THINKGROW.

6 Tips for Disagreeing Better

In this episode, I speak with entrepreneur and former NASA engineer, Harleen Kaur. Harleen is the founder of Ground News, a news platform that helps combat media bias by allowing people to compare how different news outlets from across the political spectrum are covering the same story. Also, I’ve been using Ground News for the past few months to give me a more well-rounded and balanced perspective on current events. I’ve found a lot of value in it. I highly recommend giving it a try! https://ground.news/thinkgrow

Break Out of Your Content Bubble - Harleen Kaur

I speak with author Tom-Butler Bowdon. While Tom was working as a government advisor in Sydney, Australia, he began reading and taking detailed notes on many classic personal growth books in an effort to further his career. He had an idea to organize these notes into a book and worked on this for four years. In 2001, he released 50 Self-Help Classics, which has been translated into 15 languages. Since then, he has distilled the most important ideas from hundreds of other classic books across multiple genres, including psychology, spirituality, and philosophy (my personal favorite). The 50 Classics Series has been immensely valuable to me in understanding the landscape of ideas in a particular field and making complicated philosophical and psychological works more accessible. Tom’s mission is simple: more people knowing more.   PLEASE SUPPORT THIS EPISODE'S SPONSOR Skillshare is an online learning community with over 25,000 courses on a wide range of subjects from cooking to writing to watercolor painting. I love it and use it to keep my mind sharp. Try the Premium Membership for free here: skillshare.com/THINKGROW.

This Man Read 450 Classic Books and Distilled Their Best Ideas

I speak with psychiatrist and neuroscientist Dr. Amir Levine about attachment theory, which is the subject of his best-selling book, Attached. We discuss:   How our attachment style affects our behavior in relationships   The upside of anxiety and threat-sensitivity   How to use attachment theory to improve your relationships   How depending on others can actually make you more independent  ...and much more    PLEASE SUPPORT THIS EPISODE'S SPONSOR Skillshare is an online learning community with over 25,000 courses on a wide range of subjects from cooking to writing to watercolor painting. I love it and use it to keep my mind sharp. Try the Premium Membership for free here: skillshare.com/THINKGROW.

A Framework For Improving Your Relationships - with Dr. Amir Levine

I speak with filmmaker, marketer, and sense-maker, Rob Hardy. We discuss how to navigate the complexity of human values, the tension between freedom and constraint, the intersection of values and politics, the rise of secular "religions," what it means to be a citizen, and much more.   Please support our sponsor, Skillshare. Skillshare is an online learning community with over 25,000 courses on a wide range of subjects from cooking to writing to watercolor painting. I love it and use it to keep my mind sharp. Try the Premium Membership for free here: skillshare.com/THINKGROW.

#23: How to Disagree Constructively

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