Published
5 Oct 2016

History Repeats Itself

History repeats itself unless we learn from it and do things differently next time. And if that’s not ringing any bells, think about the old cliche, “Insanity means doing the same thing and expecting a different result.”

I was thinking about this as I drove around the incredibly busy streets of San Francisco. Every time I almost hit someone, I’d notice there was a big dent in their car just where I would have hit them. I started thinking about the typical response when something challenging happens in our lives….”Why does this keep happening to me?” But people rarely dig deeply enough to find out the answer. My advice is, dig a little deeper. Why does it keep happening to you? What are you doing that brings about this result?  Focus on your behavior rather than everyone else’s. And then figure out what you can do differently to avoid the unwanted responses and obtain more desirable results.

Yes, the other car hit you from behind, but what were you doing at that moment, or just before? What circumstances brought it on? And what part were you playing in the situation? When my kids come running to me with complaints about what their sibling did, my first question is often, “Well, what happened just before?” Because that’s where the power lies. That’s something we can control. And understanding the interplay between our actions and the resulting consequences is how we stop history from repeating itself.

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