Insanity - doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein.
Where do you come across this? Is it you? Or someone you know? How do you get out of the rut and into the grove? Surely Einstein was describing most people?
To solve a messy or intractable problem often doing something differently or doing something else or different can help find the answer.
But how often do we fall back on or get drawn into old ways?
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Go for a walk, observe nature
Better than banging head against even a pillow.
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I guess we're talking about learned behaviours here - I always react this way because a) it's how I was taught b) it worked the first time (maybe not the second or third?) I was rather caught by a radio article last Tuesday about how people cling to a piece of misinformation even when it has been corrected because they need the first version to be completely remembered in order to remember the correction and will default to the original version in later conversations - think WMD and news articles.
Mechanically c/be repeatedly turning the car key just incase the car starts this time or maybe me on the computer trying to get the blasted printer to work (shades of Eddie Izzard here) actually there is no maybe about it!
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Undoing old ways and habits is tricky - knowing how it happens is part of the fix with cognitive behavioural therapy so seeing a contrary image to offest the usual response. Here I am thinking about solving problems or being innovative ... or just getting out of a rut. I used to think a trip would do it, that or going somewhere new or getting in touch with someone you haven't seen for a very long time. My simple shift will be to write, draw or play the guitar instead of TV in the evening. Have you heard of chaining? This is where to fix a behaviour at the end if the chain you have to redo something at the start - the example I read of was of teenagers dumping their coat on getting home. No point telling the, once they've been through the kitchen cupboards for food and made their way to their room - rather take them out the front door and start again so that the desired triggers for the required behaviour kicks in as they come up the drive. Some people leave the county, even leave their family - which is what Gerald Scarfe said he did. Do some people hope a new haircut will unstick them? There is a reason to leave the house and go somewhere else to resolve problems, just as in business an 'away day' does work.New comment
Not just mine that dump their coats and head straight for the food then? Is it a boy thing?New comment
This was given by way of example - actually our problem is helping with dishes at the end of a meal! Somehow, if we're lucky the table gets cleared ... then the sneak off somehow. Any call for action and the two of them start arguing about turns - our attempted response is that you'd don't vanish off. Desert breaks the pattern ... just slows them down. If we use the 'chaining pattern' then perhaps they should 'dress for dinner' (ha, ha). Dressing for lunch at the weekend would be nice too