There’s a phrase that gets me fired up. Closely related to “same s**t, different day” (tidied up for family viewing), no one ever uses either phrase to inspire themselves or anyone around them, do they?
You ask someone how they are and there it is … same old, same old. Ask them how their day is going … same s**t, different day.
To me, both phrases translate to much the same thing – a statement of acceptance of mediocre circumstances. It says to me “I am just going through the motions and can’t be bothered doing anything to change it“.
Well, here’s a tip. If you do nothing about changing your circumstances today, you will more than likely find yourself in exactly the same place tomorrow. Sure, you might win the lottery later today (which will undoubtedly change your circumstances!), but given the likelihood of that happening, the only other way that things will change is if YOU take action.
1. Decide if you want things to change.
Maybe you are happy doing what you’re doing, being where you are, going through the “same old, same old” motions. If that’s the case, that’s fine – just invent a new phrase that doesn’t sound so defeatist. Please.
2. Talk to people about how you want things to change.
If you are uncertain about what steps to take to make a change, talk to somebody you trust, somebody who has been through a similar change process, someone who inspires you. If you genuinely want to improve yourself or your circumstances, most people will give you their time for a chat.
3. Take active steps to change.
There are plenty of cliches about standing still (if you aren’t moving forward, you’re moving backwards, etc) but there is some truth in each of them. As Albert Einstein said (and I am almost certainly paraphrasing the great man) – “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”.
Another great physicist, Isaac Newton alluded to something similar in one of his laws of motion but which is just as relevant in other aspects of life – “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force”. In other words, if no external force is applied to something, it won’t change.
Being someone who likes to think in a logical way, it appears to me that there are only two options available – (1) keep on doing what you always have and get the “same old, same old” outcomes OR (2) do something that creates a change.
It’s obviously your call but I’m very keen on the second option. That said, remember that the second option is about action and it is about change … action and change that YOU have to drive.