Create from the heart
Here starts the journey of creating a collection of useful aphorisms
Whenever I struggle I take comfort from the warmth of some philosophy or other and I let it guide me. A small set of sharp values words give me more comfort and meaning than long books detailing ideas and elaborating concepts. They are certainly useful too, but not as comforting as a metaphor or an aphorism in quote form.
It is my belief that both in an individual and organizational context, the most successful aphorisms are extraordinarily creative and useful. Over the next few weeks, I am going to work on identifying useful aphorisms that help with doing such creative work - a collection of aphorisms that could work in a context-free way.
Here is the first one, in no particular order:
The intellect should be the servant of the heart, but not its slave
- Auguste Comte
What I like about this quote is several things - firstly, one wants to be intellectual or cognitive. Not a shallow approach to any problem solving and decision making. The second part of the creative process is going with the heart and not with just a logical approach to things - this is a really important criterion. And thirdly, a focus of the balance of not falling for the heartful approach but knowing what the boundaries are - and how to step away from the emotional response to evaluate its utility without becoming a slave or addict to that emotion.
Do you think it is useful advice? And would you be able to use it in different contexts to guide you?
Warren Buffet finds this one extremely useful to the extent that he uses it as the core of his investment management philosophy and decision making.
Sources:
Warren Buffett: People Who Ignore These 13 Words of Advice Will Probably Make Bad Decisions - https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/warren-buffett-people-who-ignore-these-13-words-of-advice-will-probably-make-bad-decisions.html
Auguste Comte