I

June    22nd

THE DEFINITION  OF  INSANITY

“If you are defeated    once    and tell    yourself    you will    overcome,   but carry   on  as  before, know    in  the

end you’ll  be  so  ill and weakened    that    eventually  you won’t   even    notice  your    mistake and will

begin   to  rationalize your    behavior.”

—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.18.31

t’s been said that the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again but expecting a
different result. Yet that’s exactly what most people do. They tell themselves: Today, I won’t get angry.
Today, I won’t gorge myself. But they don’t actually do anything differently. They try the same routine and
hope it will work this time. Hope is not a strategy!
Failure is a part of life we have little choice over. Learning from failure, on the other hand, is
optional. We have to choose to learn. We must consciously opt to do things differently—to tweak and
change until we actually get the result we’re after. But that’s hard.
Sticking with the same unsuccessful pattern is easy. It doesn’t take any thought or any additional effort,
which is probably why most people do it.