You’ve probably heard the Einstein quote, “Insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting different results.”
My friend Zach shared a similar quote with me that I like even more:
“Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.”
This is a powerful truth to keep in mind. Are things not going well at work? Change the inputs. Feeling unhappy? Change the inputs. Wish you could lose some weight? Change the inputs.
If you don’t mess with the inputs, you’ll maintain the same output.
The less obvious application of this involves how you think and feel. Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert and surprisingly interesting dude) has a great piece in which he lays out his “Moist Robot Hypothesis” that I recommend reading.
If you don’t like your results, alter your system.