Do You Want To Be Wise? Follow These Steps... 1. Don’t wait until you’re older and smarter. 2. See the world in shades of grey, not black and white. The words of the philosopher Bertrand Russell come to mind, “fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.” 3. Balance self-interest and the common good. As psychologist Robert Sternberg puts it: “wisdom and egocentricity are incompatible…People who have gotten where they are by not taking other peoples interests into account or even by actively thwarting the interests of others…would not be viewed as wise.” 4. Challenge the status quo. Wise people are willing to question rules. Instead of accepting things as they have always been, wisdom involves asking whether there’s a better path. 5. Aim to understand, rather than judge. By default, many of us operate like jurors, passing judgment on the actions of others so that we can sort them into categories of good and bad. Wise people resist this impulse, operating more like detectives whose goal is to explain other people’s behaviors. 6. Focus on purpose over pleasure. In one surprising study, Baltes’ team discovered that wise people weren’t any happier than their peers. They didn’t experience more positive emotions, perhaps because wisdom requires critical self-reflection and a long-term view. They recognized that just as today’s cloud can have a silver lining tomorrow, tomorrow’s silver lining can become next month’s suffering. However, there was a clear psychological benefit of wisdom: a stronger sense of purpose in life. From time to time, wisdom may involve putting what makes us happy on the back burner in our quest for meaning and significance. On the way to success, many people pursue money and power over wisdom. As Benjamin Franklin once wrote: “Who is wise? He that learns from everyone. Who is powerful? He that governs his passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.” A truly wise person would refuse to accept that conclusion. PT
Posted on: Mon, 05 May 2014 14:14:12 +0000
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