Redefining Insanity
Whenever we assess our situation we should consider the difference between improvement and change. Normally we will take a look at our present behavior and try to identify the things we can do differently to improve. Almost every politician runs on the premise that the one thing we need is change. Another common axiom claims that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. So a seeming natural and necessary conclusion is that if we want to improve we must change.
As I watch and study child development and assess my own personal progress I find merit in challenging that generally accepted definition of insanity. Repeating the same thing and expecting a different result is less Quixotic and more Einsteinian. I don't recall my own infancy and the process that my parents used to teach me to eat with a spoon and a fork. I suspect that I traveled a similar path of development that my children took. As parents, my wife and I repeated the same process over and over. The improvement and development was so gradual that we often didn't realize that progress was being made. Day after day we put put food on a plate in front of our children and gave them a utensil to use. Afterward, we had to clean the bib, the high chair, the floor, the counters, us and the child.
One day, no cleaning was necessary. Did that mean my children learned the skill overnight or between meals? Was my child suddenly doing something different because what she had been doing before didn't work? No, The progress was neither immediate nor spontaneous. Through the process of repetition my child's capacity improved, normally imperceptibly, and indeed got better. This is a common result from doing the same thing over and over.
The original saying averred that practice made perfect. Someone then came along and made it perfect practice makes perfect. Later, the 10,000 hour rule with it's corollary of 20 hours if you just want to get generally good but not professionally expert. All of these claims are made in the name of changing something that you are doing now in order to improve. But does change always lead to improvement?
I have no idea how the idea of new Coke came about. But suppose that today the Director of Marketing for Coca Cola died. I suspect that person makes a six, if not seven, figure salary. When his replacement steps in she will feel tremendous pressure to do something different to justify her salary and attempt improvement. If she doesn't present anything new, then why was she even hired in the first place? She would be wise to exercise patience, for sometimes when we measure progress it requires greater resolve to stay the course and achieve improvement through repetition.
True wisdom requires honest reflection and assessment to discern whether to stay the course, to persist in doing the same thing until we achieve a different result.
As I watch and study child development and assess my own personal progress I find merit in challenging that generally accepted definition of insanity. Repeating the same thing and expecting a different result is less Quixotic and more Einsteinian. I don't recall my own infancy and the process that my parents used to teach me to eat with a spoon and a fork. I suspect that I traveled a similar path of development that my children took. As parents, my wife and I repeated the same process over and over. The improvement and development was so gradual that we often didn't realize that progress was being made. Day after day we put put food on a plate in front of our children and gave them a utensil to use. Afterward, we had to clean the bib, the high chair, the floor, the counters, us and the child.
One day, no cleaning was necessary. Did that mean my children learned the skill overnight or between meals? Was my child suddenly doing something different because what she had been doing before didn't work? No, The progress was neither immediate nor spontaneous. Through the process of repetition my child's capacity improved, normally imperceptibly, and indeed got better. This is a common result from doing the same thing over and over.
The original saying averred that practice made perfect. Someone then came along and made it perfect practice makes perfect. Later, the 10,000 hour rule with it's corollary of 20 hours if you just want to get generally good but not professionally expert. All of these claims are made in the name of changing something that you are doing now in order to improve. But does change always lead to improvement?
I have no idea how the idea of new Coke came about. But suppose that today the Director of Marketing for Coca Cola died. I suspect that person makes a six, if not seven, figure salary. When his replacement steps in she will feel tremendous pressure to do something different to justify her salary and attempt improvement. If she doesn't present anything new, then why was she even hired in the first place? She would be wise to exercise patience, for sometimes when we measure progress it requires greater resolve to stay the course and achieve improvement through repetition.
True wisdom requires honest reflection and assessment to discern whether to stay the course, to persist in doing the same thing until we achieve a different result.
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