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Good day, dear readers of Valery Kharlamov’s blog! The cobra effect is an expression that is usually used when you wanted to solve a problem, but it turned out the other way around, and the situation became more complicated. In everyday life, they use the phrase: «I wanted the best, but it turned out as always.» And today I invite you to consider ways that will teach you how to get the expected result.
History of the Term
This effect got its name for a reason. The story is connected with cobras that once flooded all of India. This happened during the British colonial rule. The authorities, without thinking twice, appointed a reward for each killed snake. Or rather, her head. The Hindus improved their affairs and got rich quite well thanks to the new craft. But not for long, as the number of asps was significantly reduced.
It was necessary to show unprecedented abilities in order to get a trophy. Then the locals came up with an option how not to lose income, they simply began to breed cobras. Just imagine how many heads they began to supply to the government. Which, of course, immediately canceled the award. Only now the population of snakes has increased so much that it even exceeded the number that was originally.
Wanting to protect the population of India, the rulers only worsened the situation. Although, in fact, they acted out of the best of intentions.
Examples from history
Sparrows
A similar incident occurred in China in the 1960s. The invasion of sparrows destroyed the crop, which could lead to mass starvation of the population. Efforts were made to eradicate the birds. They were successful, only now the insects that appeared brought even more damage to the agricultural business.
Collectivization also contributed. Scientists had no idea how to eliminate competition between plants. Why did they decide to plant them denser to each other. Yields declined, those crops that survived were spoiled by insects. This period is called the Great Chinese Famine.
Cars
Venezuela at one time suffered greatly from incessant traffic jams. In order to unload the roads a little, a law was passed that stated that only cars with even numbers were allowed to drive on even days. And for odd, respectively, with odd. This original decision led to the fact that the Venezuelans simply bought two cars for themselves. And every day they changed them, depending on the date.
Alcohol
Who found the USSR, then remembers the current anti-alcohol campaign. This happened earlier in America during Prohibition. The motive is good — to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed by the population. For the nation to be strong, healthy and active. Only now this nation began to massively poison itself with a fake, a “stick”, and even in some cases, die. This prompted the development of the smuggling business. In general, a lot of things happened thanks to the anti-alcohol campaign, except for one thing — people did not drink less.
Rats
In Vietnam, after an increase in the population of rats and, as in the case of cobras in India, the promised reward for the killed animal, people began to breed them themselves. The thirst for money led to the fact that they became too much. They still run freely through the streets of Vietnam. And the locals had no choice but to learn how to cook them. Today, rat meat is considered a delicacy there.
Bread
King Khuplu was very worried about his people. And most of all he was oppressed by the thought that not everyone could afford a loaf of bread. Therefore, he issued a decree that forbade raising the price directly on bread. The inhabitants, of course, were delighted and could not get enough of what a kind and reasonable monarch they got.
Only now Khuplu did not take into account that the cost of flour, firewood, wages is actually growing. And it is absolutely not profitable for both the millers themselves and the farmers to do this. They preferred to focus their energy on something that would help them feed their families and generate income.
So, contrary to the expectations of the king, he soon noticed that not only the poor part of the population was not able to eat bread, but also those who were quite able to pay for it normally. The counters were empty, and a line formed in front of the bakeries from the very morning. So Hupl had to cancel his decree regarding the fixed cost of bread. That helped restore trade relations in the kingdom and its economy.
Ways to Avoid the Cobra Effect
Unfortunately, some solutions that seemed to be quite successful and relevant can lead to this effect. Therefore, I want to bring to your attention the conditions that will help you make more informed choices. So this is:
- Understanding. You must clearly understand what exactly you are doing and why you started everything. That is, explore motive and purpose. Otherwise, it will be like from a fairy tale: “Bring me something, I don’t know what” and so on. Check out this article, it will help you learn how to set goals.
- Faith. If you doubt, then even the most brilliant ideas will not be able to save the day. People like self-confident personalities, they are ready to trust them. Because they know that they will receive quality services or goods. And the Universe hears everything. Remember the affirmation method? We attract those thoughts on which we spend energy. And if you often doubt — not dreams will come true, but fears.
- Awareness. In addition to in-depth knowledge about your profession, it is important to know more about the methods and techniques that successful people use in their work. Let’s say, such as the Vroom-Yetton decision-making model, which you will find by clicking on this link. Or the Delphi method, it allows not only to develop an effective solution to any problem, but also to evaluate it so that it does not work out, as in the cases described above. When the trouble does not go away, but on the contrary, it also brings friends.
- Creation. Sometimes we underestimate it. But in vain. Because sometimes it helps to find a way out in those situations when it seems that nothing can be corrected or changed. So develop your creative part, show creativity more often. Only a few have out-of-the-box thinking. But these units are quite successful, because they think differently than most. If you are more inclined to rationality, it does not matter, this article will help you look at life’s difficulties and tasks from a different angle.
Completion
Also, we recommend that you read an article about the advice of the sages about life.
And that’s all for today, dear readers! Always carefully consider every step you take, prioritize and strive to anticipate events. And the information indicated on the blog will help you in this difficult, but important matter.
So success to you, accomplishments and results that you expected in advance when planning your activities!
The material was prepared by a psychologist, Gestalt therapist, Zhuravina Alina