Henry Ford said, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you’ve always got!” I used this quote and example a bunch when I was teaching. I would have kids come in complaining about not doing well in classes, sports or relationships and we had to break it down… “What are you doing to improve? Are you trying to improve or make it better?”
Think about it. Are you doing things in your life to change the outcomes of the things you don’t like, or are you just complaining about it? As a coach, back in the day, I really had to watch myself as I would get complacent with my practices and procedures. Then, I would wonder why my team seemed bored or wasn’t doing better. I mean if things are working, I guess that’s ok to “keep doing what you are doing,” right? But shouldn’t we always be looking to improve? I usually noticed it pretty quickly…I wanted to win! I needed to change things up!
Even if we are doing well at something, it’s ok to try to do better. As a teacher teaching the same subject for several years, it’s easy to just pull out the old lesson plans from the previous year or semester and go. Sometimes I did, but I really liked to put a twist on old lessons and would try to make things better each time. I liked to keep things relevant to the world that we were living in. Changing my lessons up made them better!
However, personally when it is only about ourselves, I think it is harder. My mother and I have had this discussion about her physical therapy. She has worked with a great PT for years. I asked her recently if she does the same thing every time she goes or does the routine change? It was a great discussion. I pulled out the quote from ole’ Henry Ford and told her that it’s great that you are always working on balance and stamina, but let’s get you working on strengthening too! It made lots of sense.
Have you hit a plateau? I know I have hit many! I struggle in my exercise, eating healthy and my faith based habits such as my quiet times. I want to see an improvement - but what am I doing to improve? Am I trying? Am I changing anything or am I just going through the motions hoping for miracles like waking up 20 lbs lighter! Ha! I know that I need to make some changes if I want to see any differences. I am responsible for this. I can’t continue to do what I have always done and see results. The decision is mine. “If it’s going to be ~ it is up to me!” It’s time to make some changes!
What about you? Are you happy with the status quo? Is there something you want to change but haven’t made any changes to improve? Let’s do this together! Make a list of changes you would like to happen, but then take a step further and write down HOW YOU WILL DO IT! We can do this! I believe in us!