The Stuck Ship
There once was a ship that wandered too close to the shore.
It had never been an issue before, but once the tide went out the ship was stuck deep in the sand.
No matter how hard the crew pushed and pushed they could not break free.
The ship was very stuck.
However, this was not a typical crew.
Rather than using their brains and understanding that they were wasting their energy they continued pushing.
For hours and hours they continued pushing.
But, to no avail.
The ship was still stuck, and was not going anywhere.
However, as the hours past and the crew continued pushing the tide came back.
As the tide began to lift the boat from the sand the crew began to cheer.
“We did it, we did it, we freed the boat”
It is true that the boat was no longer stuck, but it was not a result of their effort.
The exhausted crew is now in a worse off spot, rather than conserving their energy and waiting for the tide to return they are now in no shape to paddle back out to sea.
This story might be a bit exaggerated but it is something that occurs quite often. Rather than analyzing the situation people continue with their futile endeavors. Had the crew simply waited for the tide to be in their favor and work on other tasks in the meantime they decided to work like Sisyphus on a pointless task.
Examples of stuck ships:
Brainstorming when it is late at night and you are unable to be creative.
Starting a company at a bad time (ie. Movie Theatre during Covid)
Focus of Quantity of hours worked over Quality of Hours worked.
As the adage goes, a rising tide raises all ships and there is no point of trying to dig yourself out of the sand.