I strongly believe that the ability to change your mind is one of the most important skills in today’s world.

I have always seen the inability to engage in conversations that challenge your fundamental beliefs and strong opinions as a fatal flaw. I believe that engaging in such conversations either strengthens your beliefs or challenges them, forcing you to ask important questions about why you believe what you believe in the first place. I have always loved the idea of looking at yourself from a third-person perspective, allowing you to analyze yourself without ego or sentiment getting in the way.

Recently, I have had two main reasons to consistently live by this belief rather than just hold it: my personal life and the rise of AI.

I was watching a video and one of the speakers said that one of the sad things about giving advice is that no matter how great the advice might be, it has to meet you at a specific point in your life for it to be useful. It hit me like a brick. As someone who reads and consumes a lot, you tend to acquire new knowledge often. You use it in conversations and even to give advice. But you end up not applying it to your own life — not because you don’t want to, but because there is no alignment between the knowledge and where you currently at in life. This simply means your back has to be against the wall for you to learn certain lessons. There is no other way.

This has been me over the past few months. I have had to learn and change fast. Most of the changes I have made and actions I have taken are things I have known for a long time. But now, I don’t have a choice but to change. As they say in the startup world, pivot or die. Reality is savage. It doesn’t care about your ego or sentiments. It lays your cards out in front of you and tells you to make a decision — fast.

This is also true with the rise of AI. I have changed my mind from staying on the sidelines, to using one or two tools, to understanding that it is here to stay — and that it is very unwise to ignore it. As an engineer, my current stance is that AI makes writing code cheap, but it also gives us a new superpower. Our goal is to figure out what that superpower is, and the only way to do that is by using these tools.

Someone might ask how to know when to change your mind. I would dare say that keeping an open mind solves most of this. The issue, most times, is not the veracity of the opposing stance but your inability to let it into your reasoning faculty. Let it in, and let your intelligence handle the rest. Also understand that you don’t always have to change, but you do have to let it in.

You might also ask how to change your mind without your back being against the wall. I’m not sure how to do that, but I think it’s worth figuring out.

So, my friend, hold strong opinions — but hold them loosely. Remain porous to new ideas and be willing to change your mind quickly.