Tried that already?

The wet blanket always interferes midway into somebody’s narrative of accomplishment or adventure with a contemptuous dismissal expressed in the simple phrase — been there, done that. The same world-weary reaction pervades the corporation, especially its ruling elite. This condescension rests on the presumption of the naiveté of the proponent of some change, traceable to inexperience and a lack of understanding on how an organization works.

The expressions of having tried something already or been in a particular situation before are a favorite riposte for resisting change. Change agents, especially those taking over a company resort to drastic measures in overcoming such resistance. First they try to offer a new vision for incumbents to buy into. Workshops with facilitators are introduced. ( What is your deepest secret?) Culture change is the rallying cry. When all else fails to charge up the adrenaline, these propagators of the new religion opt for the final solution — getting rid of resistance through early retirement. It’s called right-sizing.

The infusion of new blood with outside hires is believed to allow innovation, experimentation and, yes the ability to make changes without being stopped prematurely and told something has already been tried before and failed. After all, new folks haven’t failed yet in their new milieu. (I just got here.)

The revised battle cry then “haven’t been here, haven’t tried that” becomes intoxicating, even if eventually costly and unproductive. While it is true that learning from your own experience is more costly than learning from other people’s failures, the chance to fail and draw one’s own lessons directly can be valuable too.

The 2007 movie, Bucket List puts a new twist to this phrase BTDT by having the two strangers who are aging, crotchety, and terminally ill roommates in a hospital, make up a list of experiences they feel compelled to try before they kick the bucket. The richer one offers to foot the bill. These are activities most others put off until later or never get to. But faced with certain death, the to-do list assumes a kind of urgency. The catalog is checked off once a particular experience is tried — like climbing Everest, parachuting from an airplane, and car-racing in a professional track. In going through the experiences together, the old hospital roommates form a friendship and learn to live, even if a bit too late.

The checklist as a “to do” of experiences also drives the competitive tourist. With the travel book on hand, the extreme traveler has a list of experiences to try (taking Cleopatra’s barge down the Nile) and restaurants to savor (you should try the sushi place in the Ginza train station). The travel version of BTDT is intended to provide comparative advantage in bragging department. Brownie points are scored when the list of A trumps the list of B — how can you miss out on the Alice Springs anthills? With social media posting of photos complete with exotic dishes, the competition for coolness (and wealth) has become more intense.

Part of the joy of sharing travel photos is a notso-secret desire to show off. Updates of personal sites can gloatingly invite the likers (or lurkers) to enjoy even if only vicariously the bateau cruise along the Seine on a lazy afternoon — Notre Dame from the river is a sight to behold. Those buttresses really fly.

Any kind of hobby from collecting art to reading or movies can go down the slippery slope of a BTDT contest of first time experiences that have already been tried and tested and now only invite boredom. (I did that when I was 24.) Such an attitude of besting another’s experiences introduces a blasé take on life. It seems to say that once an experience has been tried, one simply records it in a photo or an entry, and then move on to try yet another one. Aren’t worthwhile experiences worth repeating? After all, books, when read again, present new insights previously overlooked. It’s not just the power of observation that improves with a second visit, it is also the current state that makes us receptive to an old experience, as if newly felt.

We should be mindful of Heraclitus’ admonition that you can’t step on the same river twice. It’s not the same river and you’re not the same person. So even if you’ve been there before and done that… it’s already a different place and you a different person.

When all else fails, propagators of the new religion opt for the final solution — getting rid of resistance through early retirement.