Self-centeredness v. Self-centeredness

[Danneskjold]

I'm self-centered, I'm damn proud to admit it, the interesting thing is that no one else ever calls me it. Being "self-centered" from the point of view of the average high-schooler, is the same as wanting attention from everyone and wanting everyone's focus to be you. That's why this is such a misnomer, people who are self-centered aren't the ones who focus on themselves, they're the ones who focus on everyone else. Really and truly being self-centered would have the opposite affect as this. If a person's main focus was themself they wouldn't be trying to convince everyone else to pay attention to them, they don't need to. People who are self-centered have their own self-confidence. They have this confidence because if a person says "I am my own focus" they have to know that they're worth focusing on.

High school is a funny place, it's always interesting learning from other's mistakes.

[Victor Pross]

Well, if you are self-centered, it stands to reason you would be proud of it! Duh. :turned:

[PalePower]

I don't think that's just high-school ideology.

~Elizabeth

Edited April 10, 2007 by ENonemaker

[bmacwilliam]

Remember though, that success in life, in a business/economic sense is based more on what you can DO for OTHERS.

Money is a rough measure of how well you have served others by providing goods and/or services. You do have to invest in yourself so you can be good at this, but don't lose sight of the ball. Nothing wrong with being ambitious, motivated, and proud of your accomplisments. However, it's a very fine line between being 'productively' self-centred and being an angry, single, unemployed jerk living in your parents basement past the age of 40.

Bob

[Brant Gaede]

Remember though, that success in life, in a business/economic sense is based more on what you can DO for OTHERS.

Bob

Well, if you trade A for B you are trying to do best for yourself by providing the other guy with enough value that he'll agree to the transaction. This is even true for a Howard Roark who refused to compromise his artistic principles and suffered greatly for it in the short run. We have to be careful here lest we embrace Peter Keating who arguably did the same thing as Roark. Bob's statement as such would be an oversimplification leaving one without an internal moral direction and rudder, if not motivation beyond pure perceived economics. We can stumble into altruism more easily than we can embrace rational self-interest, for altruism thrives not just on the sanction of the victim but on the contradictions the blind (subconsciously held philosophies) are sure to embrace. Rational self-interest clearly understood and honored, honors one's individual, moral worth and right to exist for one's own sake.

--Brant