Avoid Being Stubborn

Ram Bansal By Ram Bansal, 13th Aug 2011 | Follow this author | RSS Feed | Short URL http://nut.bz/io1nbjqa/
Posted in Wikinut>Guides>Philosophy>Logic

Being stubborn is not a bad trait, but one need to be capable to handle and make good use of this trait. Else, it leads to disasters.

What is Stubbornness

Stubbornness is the trait of a person that guides him/her to act in accordance to his/her whims without listening to anything said for his/her guidance to a right path. It is often treated as a negative attribute of the person, when he/she is unreasonably, and often perversely unyielding. Also, it is taken to mean 'difficult to treat or deal with'. As a positive attribute, it is taken to mean 'firmly resolved or determined'. Its synonym is 'obstinate', often considered a negative trait of the person.

Stubbornness is a subjective attribute - positive for the wise and negative for the fools. A wise person is that who decides after considering all the factors concerned and then sticks to his/her decision. Conversely, a fool goes y his/her whims, devoid of any logic, and then sticks to his/her point of view.


Sticking to one's decision is stubbornness, so stubbornness is not bad in itself if someone gets stuck with a wrong decision. It is the decision which may be wrong or right. If the decision is right, stubbornness produces a good result, or if wrong, stubbornness is going to produce a bad result.

A decision means taking all factors into consideration, analyzing the problem and synthesizing a solution. If somebody is capable in doing this, and then becomes obstinate, there is nothing wrong. If the capacity of making a right decision is not there, and the person becomes obstinate, he/she is harming his/her own interests and all others concerned. In such a case, one should not be obstinate and listen to somebody he/she trusts.

The real problem arises because everyone considers him/herself as a capable person without knowing his/her weaknesses. With such a notion, he refuses to receive help available to him/her to his/her own peril.

The Solution

I don't say that somebody must consider him/herself as incapable of taking decisions about him/herself. This will be too negative a thought for anybody to cope up with. So we need to find a solution.

Each of us is related to many others in one or more ways. Let a person understand relative capabilities of his/her contacts with respect to him/herself. And then refer them in accordance of merit whenever a time of judgement comes, instead of judging by him/herself and making a mess. The process is called consultation.


Consultation, Decision Making, Help, Obstinate, Stubborn

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author avatar Bob
26th Sep 2011 (#)

Stupid website
waste of time

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