Consistency is generally viewed as an admirable trait, for good reason. However, we can fall into the habit of being automatically consistent even in situations where it’s counter-productive. Consistency built upon a foundation of overconfidence, arrogance, and laziness, can put a business into a death spiral.
Once we’ve made up our minds about something, we no longer have to think hard about the relevent issues. We don’t have to sift through the daily blizzard of information for relevant facts. We don‘t have to expend mental energy to weigh the pros and cons. We don’t have to make more tough decisions. All we have to do is click on our consistency tape. Then we know just what to believe, say or do: whatever is consistent with our earlier decisions. Life gets easier! The allure of such a luxury can’t be minimized. It allows us a convenient, relatively effortless and efficient method for dealing with severe demands on our energy and capacities. It’s easy to understand why automatic consistency is difficult to curb. Sir Joshua Reynolds noted, “There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking.”
Remember:
- Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is a form of insanity.
- Keeping two conflicting positions simultaneously alive in your thinking is a sign of genius.
Firing yourself, a process described in the previous two blogs, is the way to avoid not falling into the consistency trap.
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