Introduction
We live in a society where all things smart and intelligent are good, and anything that is dumb or stupid is bad.
But wait a minute. You probably know many highly intelligent people who are struggling just to get by. Worse, you probably know several C students who have risen quickly and easily to the heights of wealth and power . . . and all too often, they are your boss or your biggest client. What is wrong with this picture?
Strange though it may seem, intelligence is not all that it is cracked up to be. And stupidity, while much maligned, is often a highly effective method of achieving success.
On the following pages, you will be invited to re-examine your concepts of “intelligence” and “stupidity.” You will discover how “intelligence” can be extremely limiting. You will also discover how you can use supposedly “stupid” behaviors to achieve remarkably positive results. (You will also learn how to recognize these highly effective “stupid” techniques, so that others cannot get away with using them on you.)
The concepts in this book are really quite simple. In fact, most of them are about re-acquiring skills you already possessed when you were two years old. The most difficult part is facing the fearful sense of shame that we normally associate with the word “stupid.”
The word “stupid” has many meanings. We tend to use the word “stupid” to define anything that is outside of the “norms” of conventional wisdom. This often includes any different perspective, any different idea, or any other thought process that might lead you to think of an answer that differs from the answer in the teacher’s guide. This word gets used a lot because the power of this word’s implicit contempt is often stronger than any logical argument.
Well, things are about to change. Once you take a good long look at the total illogic of how we use the word “stupid,” you will become impervious to the insidious fear-mongering power of this word. This will give you much greater freedom of thought and action. But that is just the beginning. You will also re-discover something else that you inherently understood when you were two years old: instead of being a source of shame or embarrassment, all the many things you don’t know or understand are a source of unlimited power and possibility.
In addition to that, we humbly submit to you, dear reader, that some of the things you have been told are “stupid” are actually some of the best, the most valuable, and the most interesting parts of yourself. Hopefully, this book will remove some of the fear that may be keeping you from taking full advantage of them.
The word “stupidity” is based on the Latin word “stupidus,” meaning “to be astonished.” Once you get past all the negatives you have been taught about this word, you may very well be astonished at what the Principles of Applied Stupidity can do for you.
Justin Locke
--JL
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© 2008, Justin Locke. This material may not be reproduced or re-transmitted without permission from the author.