While on a coaching call recently one of my friends mentioned he was having a hard time making a change and that he seemed to be going around in circles. I asked, “Do you want to make a shift or do you just want to use me as a ‘stand’ to complain and whine but keep going on without any changes?” My question got to him, I think.

It reminded of that famous line,

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” -Albert Einstein

Are you doing the same things, the same way, over and over again and expecting different results?

One of my mentor coaches mentioned this poem, “There’s A Hole In My Sidewalk,” by Portia Nelson to me that addresses this very issue.   The poem creates an analogy between life and a journey down a sidewalk. This story made me think about the choices we make in life. How many times do we keep making choices that only lead us into the same “hole in the sidewalk?