The difference between an argument and a fight is that in a fight, you say things youll regret.
To make this trick work, you better drill the Im being recorded feeling into your head.
Picture the last fight where you said something you regret.
(Not the last time you acted in righteous fury that still makes you proud.
Were only talking about fights that you wish youhadnthad.)
Now picture a video camera pointed at you.
Someones watching and listening.
Think about seeing yourself on video.
Think about having to re-live this fight the next time things are going well.
Think of other people in your life watching this video, and how humiliated youd be.
Whos the person youd least want to hear what you said?
Picture them watching this video in front of you.
If you do it right, that thought experiment should be horrifying!
Now in your Im being recorded vision, think about saying things differently.
Picture yourself calming down, and listening to what the other persons saying.
Imagine the other person calming down as well, responding to your own calm.
Picture the fight becoming a boring, reasonable discussion.
Picture the camera turning away to find some better drama.
Do this so that next time an argument gets heated, you think of that camera turning on.
So that you catch yourself and you slow down, and talk as if you had an audience.
Dont play to the imaginary cameraany passive-aggressive stuff would be obvious to anyone watching.
Act like its your job to make the camera go away, by turning off the drama.
And that makes it much less likely that you say something stupid, wrong, or hurtful.
It makes itwaymore likely that you walk away getting something you wanted.
And be thankful your fights arent getting recorded.
As redditorGLITCHEDMATRIXsays, I once recorded myself arguing and didnt realize how wrong I was until after watching it.
