Not about many things, but about this:
“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”
I’ve always hated this definition.
I wouldn’t call it insanity. I’d call it persistence. Grit. Determination. Practice.
There are many examples in life in which one does the same thing over and over again with the reasonable expectation of improvement (and thus differing results).
In fact, I can think of more instances in which this is true than it is not.
I’m sure that when Einstein said this, he was referring to a specific instance where this definition aptly applied (probably related to scientific experimentation), but too often quoted as a universal truth when this is simply not the case.
Einstein was a little smarter than you seem to think. You have to look at what he was saying: doing the same thing every time. That’s someone who’s not learning from their mistakes. If you want to define determination, that’s a case of attempting to achieve the same goal every time, but not using the exact same approach.
Isn’t weight lifting an example of this? You can do the same thing over and over, lifting the same weight the same number of times, and yet you will improve over time. The repeated use of a muscle will cause the muscle to grow.
Or free throw shooting? I became an 80% free throw shooter by standing on a line and shooting the same ball into the same net in the same way for hours. Were incremental, unnoticeable changes happening to the way I shoot and perceive the basket during the practice?
Yes.
But was I consciously involved in the process?
No.
I did the same thing again and again and expected (and got) a different result.
Isn’t running the same thing? I’ve been using the same treadmill program for more than a year and have continued to lose weight and improve my overall performance. I do the same thing over and over again, day after day, and expect (and get) better results.
How about memorizing multiplication facts. You can perform the same drill over and over again, day after day, with no change in the routine whatsoever, and eventually you will memorize those facts.
Like I said, I suspect that Einstein was referring to something more in terms of experimentation, in which you have control of all of the variables. But human performance is not so simple, and improving performance often replies upon repetition. We do the same thing again and again and expect better results.
I’ve always hated this phrase.
As you said in the previous comment, sometimes we need to do things over and over to get better at something. Sometimes we also need to do things over and over to understand what’s gone wrong.
What I hate most, though, is the way the quote is thrown around by people who are watching someone going through the above process. Telling a frustrated person that what they’re doing is insane is rarely helpful.