I was known to have strong opinions and to have said, “my opinions your opinions, I win. Your facts my opinion, you win”. Therefore, I encouraged people to always speak with data, that eliminated opinions.
Although most people want certainty, my advice is to consider a probability that you may not be correct, even if only a small chance. When you think that you are right, that is the moment to reflect. Mark Twain said that when you are on the side of the majority, that is the time to pause and reflect.
My strong opinions, and lack of patience, likely meant that I did not always, truly listen to others, understanding their perspectives as they saw it, and not how I saw it. But I recognize how important it is to first listen, to really understand others.
With age (maybe wisdom), I practice not to jump to conclusions, to break with that bad habit. This becomes easy when you internalize that the other person (s) probably knows something that you do not know. Truly listen. We are taught to read, write and speak, but not to listen.
So not jumping to conclusions and having patience are habits that I work very hard on to improve. This requires the application of one of Stephen Covey habits of highly effective people “seek to understand before being understood”.
Think Bigg-r 