Einstein and Me

We all know that quote attributed to Einstein about the definition of insanity being doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  It was great and motivating to hear the first few times, at least for me.

But I think there is a different quote, this one learned from my former therapist, which is equally compelling, more actionable, and certainly dominating my thoughts this week:  “The Data Is In”.

You hire a contractor who never calls back or shows up when he says he will, yet you call him again and wait for his call or visit at the appointed time, expecting him to arrive on time.  And then you are disappointed, as if the data wasn’t there to tell you that of course, he would not show up on time.

You are asked – once again - for advice by someone in a perpetual up-down bad relationship that has a repeat cycle of decades.  The asker hopes against hope for change, hopes the advice will facilitate change in spite of all the data proving otherwise.

You love someone who is emotionally unavailable, recognizing that unavailability but convincing yourself that perhaps you can change that person, in spite of years of proof that that person is who she is.

You offer a product which no one wants to buy.  You reduce the price, you change the audience, you fire the advertisers.  No one buys it, yet you are sure it is great. Really, it is.

The Data Is In.  Whether we choose to pay attention and change our own actions based on the data is the critical part, the part so many of us ignore when we are busy crying out in pain or frustration or anger or incredulity.

Yup, I just had a week like this, and as I emerge from my own frustrations and counseling others with theirs, I have to admit that so much of what has made us all nuts was there all along, if only we had been willing to pay attention.  The data was there all along.