The Definition Of Insanity

The Daily Stoic for 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

They say that the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. I’m pretty sure most of us could be considered insane follow that definition.

We, humans, are creatures of habits. We tend to do the same things always. At a personal level, we make the same mistakes over and over again. At least that’s my case.

The Definition Of Insanity

However, especially relevant for this blog is how we tend on doing that at an entrepreneurial level too. As micropreneurs, that constant repetition of the errors of the past means we build flawed business and fall on the same traps repeatedly.

It’s usually assumed that, as part of the entrepreneurial process, you need to fail in order to “learn from your mistakes”. However, while failing is certainly easy, learning from your mistakes is not.

For me, that’s definitely not an automatic process. I have failed a lot and, sometimes, I’ve fallen into the same traps more than once. Learning those lessons, in my experience, is a matter of trial and error. Hence, in my opinion, it’s important to fail fast. That means being critical and evaluating if an idea is working or not in a very short timeframe. If you spend two whole years to test if your idea has a future… You waited too long.

Conclusion

Today’s Daily Stoic, “The Definition Of Insanity”, discusses how we tend to make the same mistakes over and over again, what’s usually the definition of insanity. We need to learn fast from our mistakes and avoid making them over and over again.