Sometimes obsessions are merely a chemical problem.
Some of the absurdly obsessive thoughts associated with
obsessive-compulsive
disorder, can be accounted for by
an imbalance of neurotransmitters.
Some people can't stop washing their hands, and others
can't rid their minds of an inane thought or phrase.
Take your pills, and the problem is brought under control.
But that's probably not the kind of obsession you are talking about.
You mean, "Why do I sometimes become obsessed with a certain goal,
knowing in the back of my mind that it isn't an
effective use of my resources?"
The simple answer is ego.
To abandon the goal, you would have to admit defeat and acknowledge that
"they" were right about you: You are worthless.
What you can't acknowledge is that by the time you achieve the goal,
what "they" think may not matter anymore, and you have expended your
resources on a course of action that wasn't the best for you.
The trouble when you are obsessed is that you tend to approach
your goals in a
linear fashion.
If there is a mountain in front of you, you'll
push ahead and
try to climb
directly over it
instead of standing back and looking for an easier way around.
You must get to your destination, and if their are
enormous barriers in your way, you will expend enormous
resources to overcome them.
If you are less obsessed, you are more likely to see what it is you
really want and find easier ways to get there.
Obsessions can start with sexual attraction because
their is a lot of ego wrapped up in that pursuit. If
you are rejected in romance,
especially on grounds that are disturbingly close to truth,
you want to prove to that person that they were wrong,
wrong, wrong!
You can become obsessed with that person directly, hounding them
again and again for a date, or you can fixate on a goal
that you think will impress them -- slaying a dragon, perhaps,
or becoming a movie star. (Freudians might call this
"sublimation.")
>>> In Japan, a woman is arrested for calling up the man who
spurned her and hanging up -- 10,000 times!
An unhappy childhood generates similar obsessions. You want to
prove that "they" were wrong about your worthlessness, so you strive,
by hook or crook, to reach the pinnacle of some highly visible profession.
Hollywood is the Mecca for such obsessions,
but any business can also provide these illusory goals.
You seek power to try to prove your worth,
whether or not you know what to do with that power once you get it.
Some people are obsessed with winning.
Give them a contest, and they'll obsessively pursue victory,
whether or not the prize is really worth anything....
(2/4/96)
Management of the Absurd
- Psychologist, educator and former CEO Richard Farson
presents of a series of management paradoxes designed
to challenge conventional wisdom and encourage managers to
reexamine their assumptions about effective leadership.
Facile formulas, catchy slogans, ten-step programs, and
quick fixes too often dominate today's management training
programs. But in organizations as in all of life, human
behavior is seldom predictable, and business dilemmas do
not easily lend themselves to gimmicks or simplistic
answers.
[dpk 9/96]
-
#absurd {1book} $21.00