‘Everyday’ Intelligence: Insanity: Doing the Same Thing and Expecting Different Results

Link to podcast to follow

I know that the above sounds way too smart for me to have come up with; in fact, it was Einstein who did.

On the other hand, though, people say that repetition is the mother of all knowledge.

So which one is it then?

Vox Populi, Vox Dei, you’d say. But, from a purely logical point of view, is there any point in keep doing the exact same thing over and over again?

‘Yes’ and ‘No’; and here’s why:

Scenario One, Coca- Cola

‘I’d like a glass of Coke, please.’

‘Is Pepsi ok?’

‘Is Monopoly money ok?’

The above is funny solely because a fair percentage of people prefer Coke to Pepsi; and there’s a reason for that.

Good advertising. NOT.

The secret is, allegedly, in Coca Cola’s secret recipe- a recipe that hasn’t changed (once again, allegedly) since 1886.

Put simply, Coca- Cola has been doing the exact same thing for over a century with the clear idea of producing the same result.

Simple, really; why would you try to fix something that wasn’t broken in the first place?

Also, did you know that it was Coca- Cola that turned St. Nick into the Santa we know today?

Scenario Two, Applying for a New Job

Having carefully considered your application, we are sorry to inform you that you have not been short- listed on this occasion as we have had other applicants whose experience and profile have better fitted in with the job description.

We would, however, like to wish you all the best in all of your future endeavours.

Thank you.

Unlike the pseudo- joke about Pepsi and Coke (no rhyme intended), no- one (and I mean NO- ONE) will ever consider the above funny.

Why?

Well, mainly because we’ve all been there; in fact, some of us have not even had an automatic reply such as the above back.

Yet, some recruiters maintain that it’s all a matter of a chance: if you are to send one- hundred applications, they say, at least five of those are (statistically) bound to be successful.

Now, THAT is insanity.

First and foremost, it’s all very well advising people to file in hundreds of applications; who, however, has the time to realistically submit those in, say, a week?

Also, what will the quality of those applications be? Copy- paste, most likely.

Let’s the compare the above to a game of basketball; if you shoot in such a way that you only score five times out of a hundred, what would make more sense:

To keep doing more of that

OR

To change the way in which you shoot so that you can score more?

Sooooo…

Don’t Go Insane;

Stay on Top of

Your Game!

(talk about being cheesy, eh?)