Unhappy Motivation/Fear of Being Stupid
In this talk, Bruce Di Marsico discusses the drawbacks of using unhappiness as our motivation. Since the ultimate goal is happiness, unhappiness always fails to achieve what it sets out to achieve. Ultimately, if our happiness depends on getting what we want, then we will fear to even want in the first place.
Our wanting is happier if we are willing to want without knowing the outcome. Since wanting something is the most likely way to achieve something, this is also the most effective attitude.
Some examples of unhappiness being a counterproductive motivation: stupidity is the fear of being stupid, which makes us unable to think clearly: we end up thinking about our “not being able to think” instead of thinking about what we fear being stupid about. The cause of chronic anger is anger at oneself based on the judgment that anger is bad. In general, judging that a personality attribute is “bad” only amplifies it.
Option Method – Fear of Being Stupid