Time for a Padded Cell?

Feb 29, 2008

posted by Shelley

You get up in the morning and check the weather, the local news, the national news, your favorite blogs and forums, and then your workday begins. Your day is filled with an endless stream of phone calls and interruptions; you check your email every two minutes and put out one fire after another. And then, at some point you shake your head and wonder where the day went. You have lost sight of what you were attempting to accomplish in the first place. Sound familiar?

The ease in which we are able to connect via technology is great isn’t it? But I’ve found that it also provides us with endless distractions. In the midst of communicating and the ease of connecting with others, it is easy to lose your message and focus.

Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

It’s like the abused spouse that welcomes home the mate, believing that things will be different, even knowing nothing has changed. It’s like the alcoholic that walks into the neighborhood bar and tells himself he’ll only have one drink this time, knowing that he’s made that promise over and over in the past and failed.

While it’s easy to see Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity play out in those examples – what about for the rest of us? What about in our careers and lives in general?

Are you happy with what you’re getting? If you’re not satisfied with your personal or business life today, and you wake up tomorrow and go through the same motions while expecting a different result — that is… well… insanity.