Hidden goals, implicit motivation

I threw out two grocery items yesterday. They’d been left out and got warm. They probably would have been fine, but I realized I was defending a few dollars worth of food like it was a travesty of justice if I tossed them in the bin.

There are so many hidden goals and implicit motivations we overlook because they are ubiquitous. They’re also useful, which is why they’ve been conserved in our genes and culture.

• Reduce cost
• Don’t waste energy
• Seek pleasure
• Avoid pain
• Look cool
• Don’t look foolish

We don’t add them to our list of goals, but they’re always there pushing against our stated goals. They’re not always bad, but they do go unexamined. And because they’re unexamined they seem unassailable. So I’m adding three goals to my file-based Lifelog dashboard to track them.

• Resource Management: Saving time, energy, and money at the expense of health, active living, and peace of mind.
• Threat & Discomfort Avoidance: Seeking safety, certainty and ease in the short term while avoiding long-term growth.
• Social Position: Protecting status, sense of belonging, and approval while not valuing personal boundaries, and intrinsic worth.

Again, these aren’t always bad. But they can conflict with the very goals that might help me attain them. How often do I get convinced to buy a limited-time bargain that turns out to be a total waste of money?

Are there any hidden goals I left off my list?