Twice in the last week I’ve seen the following quote and have since referenced it with a few friends.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
~Albert Einstein

What an incredible idea that takes many of us way too long to realize.  How do we expect to be happier or experience new things if we’re making the same choices, staying in stagnant jobs and relationships, and/or keeping an unsatisfying routine? Often it’s so much easier to see someone else making the same choices and achieving the same, undesired results, but somehow it’s more difficult for many of us to realize (or at least act on) our patterns when we’re in it. Yet, somehow we do know what’s happening—our gut really lets us know, but maybe we’re scared or content, or perhaps we don’t feel worthy or ready.

I recall an impactful mantra my high school geometry teacher had when graphing calculators were first introduced: “Garbage in, garbage out,” he’d remind us, with a half-stern, half-smirk presentation. He was constantly reminding us that even with a fancy-schmancy machine like a graphing calculator, if we entered the wrong information or didn’t change our approach when we didn’t get the correct answer, we still wouldn’t get the results we needed. Wow. What a lesson that is even now.

I’ve always been fascinated by some people’s response when asked how they’re doing and what’s new: “same-old, same-old.” A bit of boredom and sadness seem to be inherent with that response, and I would encourage actions or change of direction that could generate a different response for anyone uttering these words. It’s tough to change and easier to stay with what’s comfortable, even if we’re not happy. Why? Even more significant than answering the why, though, is a better question: Why not do something different?

More importantly, let’s avoid even the feeling of the same-old, same-old, and, at times worse, the experience of the same patterns that aren’t bringing us joy and aren’t serving us. Let’s not get stuck. New approaches = new results: Say (and do) it with me!