Murphy’s Law: what is it, how to counter it?

If an event is going to go wrong, chances are it will. This is what Murphy’s Law states – or the Law of “maximum hassle”, a variant. What are the consequences of this law and especially how to counter it? Answers with coaches Elisabeth Mallengier and Hélène Crevel.

Definition: What is Murphy’s Law?

Who has never been a victim of Murphy’s Law? Often illustrated by the toast which always falls on the side of the butter, this law also called “Law of maximum annoyance” – which is a variation of it – states that “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong“.”In other words, always expect the worst explains Hélène Crevel. “We can consider this law as negative and pessimistic. But it means above all that one must always consider that even the most improbable and uncertain could happen, whether it is an external factor or human clumsiness“ continues the coach.

Who invented Murphy’s Law?

Its authorship is attributed to the aerospace engineer Edward A. Murphy Jr. who supposedly conceptualized it in the late 1940s.”He was then leading a project to test human tolerance to deceleration. During an experiment, the assistant mounted the sensors upside down, much to the chagrin of Murphy who reportedly said “If this guy has the slightest chance of making a mistake, he’ll make it”. This sentence was transformed into “If it can happen, it will happen” and “If there is more than one way to do something, and one of them leads to disaster, then there will be someone to do it that way“. Over the years, Murphy’s Law has gone beyond the scope of aeronautical engineering to generalize to the most everyday situations“says Hélène Crevel about the context of its conception. According to the coach, since its creation, other variants have resulted from it such as the finagle’s law which starts from the same defeatist postulate: “If there is a possibility that an experiment will fail, it will failhas”. The law of maximum hassle is also very close. “She goes even further than Murphy” emphasizes Hélène Crevel. According to this law, “When a problem occurs, an additional annoyance always arises at that time to make the situation worse.”

Examples of Murphy’s Law

It is therefore not uncommon to be confronted with Murphy’s Law and its variants. “Each of us has met her one day” relativizes Hélène Crevel. And the examples are not lacking! “You prepare your presentation, you rehearse it several times, everything works perfectly, but when it’s time to do it in front of the public, no way to launch the presentation on the projection?“This is a situation illustrating Murphy’s Law. Just as if”You change cash register because it is blocked by unweighed bananas and the previous one unblocks and the person at the new checkout disputes the price of the pasta promotion in the catalog“explains the coach. This law also applies if your software crashes when you had forgotten to save your document, if your printer fails you when you have to print your internship report at 10 p.m. for the next day or if your child falls and gets dirty at your sister’s wedding when for once you have forgotten the bag with the spare things.

What are the consequences of Murphy’s Law?

Believing in Murphy’s Law and sometimes making fun of it is one thing. In contrast, swearing by Murphy can negatively impact our lives. “The danger is to focus on the negative and on the aspect“suffered”events instead of just living them without putting any affect on them” alert Elisabeth Mallengier. So beware of systematizing problems which can result in a “feeling of helplessness” in certain situations.

“The danger is to focus on the negative”

To counter Murphy’s Law, it is better to prepare for the worst and consider plans B. “This is the principle of the worst-case scenario” details Hélène Crevel “Imagine that you are going on a trip. You have to ask yourself what problems you might encounter like the plane not taking off or the hotel not having a room for you. The idea is then to provide a fallback solution for each situation, such as calling the hotel to confirm the reservation or having your insurance number for repatriation in the event of a problem.“. Thereby, by being far-sighted we are developing more and more capacities for anticipation.

Better to prepare for the worst and consider plans B

It is also essential to realize that there are solutions to everything! Faced with this type of situation, the coach recommends keeping calm, even “play on humor if the situation permits” in order to relativize and defuse. A more radical solution exists as explained by Elisabeth Mallengier. “The easiest way is not to give it too much importance. That doesn’t mean you won’t have a problem.” comment the coach before adding this nevertheless makes it possible not to involuntarily induce them via self-fulfilling prophecies, to defocus from them by giving oneself the means to achieve one’s ends”.

Thanks to coaches Elisabeth Mallengier and Hélène Crevel.

We wish to thank the writer of this short article for this outstanding material

Murphy’s Law: what is it, how to counter it?


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