I wonder how often in life you find yourself, like me, confronting the same old thing over and over again? It seems that there are certain problems or challenges that seem to keep coming back to say “Hello”. It is like some kind of cosmic examination you have to pass in order to matriculate. It might be something like picking the wrong friends or recruiting the wrong employees and you find yourself being let down again; or buying something that seems ‘just right’ and finding out it isn’t. It usually feels like some kind of cruel, cosmic joke that we are the butt of. However, just as the snail carries its home with it wherever it goes, so we take ourselves and all our baggage along for every ride.

We are used to seeing the familiar patterns of the changing of the seasons (or at least we used to be before Global Warming started to bite!) and we use them to navigate our world. They are literally what helps use get from A to B. Perhaps it is time to look at some of these reoccurring patterns in your life and business and ask “What do I have to do differently this time in order not to have to face this one again?” We all know, usually to our cost, that the same old response brings us straight back to GO, without collecting the £200! So what could you do differently?

One key is instead of feeling victimised by ‘cruel fate’ take the view that we are somehow creating or at least co-creating these patterns and once we recognise that we are part of the problem, we have the key to unlocking the situation. After all, if we are just the victim it is just bad luck isn’t it? There is nothing we can do! On-the-other-hand, if we are somehow initiating this response, then if we behave differently, things will necessarily work out differently too.