Expecting Something Different

I attended a motivational seminar a number of years ago where the speaker used a phrase that I’ve heard a lot since but thought his saying it was original and found it quite profound. He said, “If you do what you’ve always done you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”

Most of us need that little bit of wisdom. We get so committed to doing something a certain way (for whatever reason) that we can’t let it go and try a different approach even when we continue to fail. Another quote (perhaps from the same seminar – I don’t remember): “The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same things but expecting different results.”

That probably isn’t really a good definition of insanity, but the idea is good. If we expect something different but keep banging our heads against the same wall to get it done, it will make us crazy.

When something doesn’t work, change your approach. When you need to change the outcome, change the input. When you need to come up with something new, approach it in a new way.