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“If you always do what you've always done, then you will always get what you've always gotten.”

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2000-03-08) from his book, Failing Forward: How to Makethe Most of Your Mistakes (p. 48). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Wow, that is the truth.  John then says, “People are prone to ruts. And anyone who has been conditioned to think failure is his fate has an especially hard time exiting the failure freeway.”

I started doing something this past year that I really enjoy doing.  I take and pickup my wife, Margaret from her work every work day.  That gives us extra time together and also helps her plan her day and check off all her emails at the end of her day.  It also means we spend a lot of time on the LA Freeway system.  Anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour.  Now if I had found a route and decided to stick with it every day coming and going I would spend even more time but I have a helper called Waze that sets and changes how I go each time.  It gives me the best and fastest route and it is almost never the same. 

But we don’t like to do that in our lives.  I’m right now in a rut with my weight loss.  I have been doing the same thing but not getting the same results but I keep on doing what I’ve always done because it used to work.  And I’m tired of failing so I need to change but I have found that to be a tough thing to do.  And the truth is, I don’t want to.  But John says, “If you always do what you've always done, then you will always get what you've always gotten.”  I need another Waze to help me change my ways.  It is my fault that I am failing at this and I just need to be honest and find another way to help me lose this weight.

I like this quote that John gives from William Dean Singleton who is the co-owner of MediaNews Group Inc. and he says, “Too many people, when they make a mistake, just keep stubbornly plowing ahead and end up repeating the same mistakes. I believe in the motto, ‘Try and try again.’ But the way I read it, it says, ‘Try, then stop and think. Then try again.’”

I’m in the stop and thinking time.  Then I will try again. 

What do you need to stop and think about and then try again?

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