There’s an old quotation that I’m sure you’ve read. It goes like this: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
I’m in the middle of reading the latest book by Gary Vaynerchuck, an entrepreneur who’s made a lot of money selling wine. He has a definition of insanity that I like even better:
“I got lucky. From a very early age, I knew and accepted the dictates of my DNA, which were that I was born to be a people person and to build businesses. Those were and always have been my passions. I knew I was made to be an entrepreneur by the D- and F-infestested report cards I’d bring home that gave my mother conniptions. Even though I hated to make my mother cry, I also knew that I had to be me, and if that meant hiding the Beckett Baseball Guide inside my math book during class so I could read up for my next baseball card trading show, that’s the way it had to be. Too many people ignore their DNA, however, to conform to what their families or society expects of them. A lot of people also decide that professional success has to look a certain way. That’s how someone born to design bikes winds up becoming a lawyer, or someone who loves experimenting with makeup works every day pitching someone else’s overpriced brand to malls around the country, or someone who cannot go a day without jotting down some ideas for their next poem spends most of their time at the helm of an emergency IT department. To me, that’s insane.”