I’m just going to keep trying to find interesting problems to work on, and if one of them happens to change the world, then great. And if not, at least I’ll have had fun trying to solve some hard problems.Fun trying to solve hard problems. That is the key sentence that shows the attitude of the person who makes the above statement. Often, I find that it is the attitude towards something that matters the most. How do we have the right attitude? To get an answer to this question, we should ask some more questions: how does we develop good/bad, right/wrong attitude towards something? It is the reponse for the impulse (or the input) that ultimately determines the attitude. It is a mix of things, actually. I mean the output from the brain for the imput(impulse) is a mix of things. Emotion, thought, action etc. each of which generates their own impulses and comes further outputs. We can leave that matter. How do we get the reaction or response to some impulse? It depends. The impulse can be new in which case, it depends on the current situation. If the impulse falls into one of the patterns, then associative memory comes into action. This applies for both conscious and sub-conscious mental activities.
The point that I am trying to drive home is that, if I can control the response to some impulse, then I can control the attitude that eventually comes out. Controlling responses to impulses require consciousness, discipline and courage especially if an impulse and its associated, unsolicited response is so automatic.
So, the question How to have the right attitude? kind of reduces to How to control the response to an impulse?. That is where Emotional Intelligence comes into picture. It is roughly defined as the ability to aptly reason with one's emotions and understand them and control them. Intelligence is the key word. It requires consciousness. Anything that lowers one's consciousness is probably not worth it.
So, having fun entails having the right attitude (I haven't defined it yet :-) ) which entails controlling ourselves.
