Bread by rprata on Flickr. Most people have probably heard the…
Most people have probably heard the saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.” Sometimes insanity is replaced by stupidity; often the quote is (mis-)attributed to Einstein.
The implication in this quote is that insanity and perseverance are, at least functionally, synonymous. So is it insane to keep getting up and dusting yourself off after failure, to, as the man says, “try, try again”?
I clarified the distinction in my own mind with the following analogy: imagine a baker trying to perfect a recipe for a perfect loaf of bread.
Perseverance: The baker bakes and discards dozens, hundreds, maybe a thousand loaves, each with a distinct variation to the process. A bit more salt in this one. A little lemon zest in that. Currants, perhaps? No? For the next she raises the oven temperature a few degrees, for the one after she lowers it a little. At last, through trial and error she achieves her ideal and can forget the trash bins full of useful failures. They are the stairs to the summit of her triumph, to wax a bit poetic.
Insanity: The baker bakes a thousand loaves from the same imperfect recipe, and declares all bread is terrible or baking is impossible.
#Bread, insanity, perseverance