Recently I wrote about the FIRST LAW OF HOLES:
“When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.”
Isn’t that a profound truth on which most of us agree and a situation most of us have experienced?
Sometimes we just keep digging, even though we can see that we’re getting in deeper and deeper.
Now let’s look at the Second, Third, and Fourth Laws of Holes.
LAW OF HOLES 2: When you stop digging you are still in a hole.
I told the story of working with a vendor who was no longer bringing value to my company. If you find yourself in a similar or parallel hole, you should evaluate whether it makes sense to keep spending energy, time, and resources on something that isn’t working.
You might stop digging, e.g., you stop spending.
But guess what? You are still in that hole. You haven’t solved the problem that you hired the vendor to solve. You are out X amount of dollars; you have an unfulfilled need or gap; and you have to find a way to get out of the hole.
Standing still is not a viable strategy.
You have to develop a strategy for resolving your initial need. In other words, you stopped digging, but what are you going to do now that will get you out of the hole?
You need a strategy that will lead to an action that will get you completely and permanently out of the hole.
LAW OF HOLES 3: An unfilled hole is still a threat.
Responding to LAW OF HOLES 3 is making sure that, after you have climbed out, you don’t slide or fall back into the same hole.
Just because you got out of the hole doesn’t mean there aren’t people who are still in that hole who want to pull you back in. If you have implemented a well-thought-out strategy to get out of a hole, you’re going to need a strategy for staying out.
Think of the abused person who goes back to the abuser. That may be the most heartrending example of LAW OF HOLES 3. Sometimes it’s easier to get out of a hole than it is to stay out.
LAW OF HOLES 3 can also be called the Law of Bad Second Chances. When caught in poor performance, most people swear they will do better from then on. Again, you must become an excellent evaluator. What are the chances that someone who got you into a hole in the first place is not going to pull you right back in if you let them.
My husband, Michael, because of his kind heart, gave one of his professional team members a second, third, and fourth chance because he really liked this employee and felt sympathy for her because her personal life was a mess. None of her holes was that deep, but there was certainly a trend (or should I say trench?). She always promised to do better and would for a while. But then during a family vacation, Michael got a call from his team lead, telling him that the employee had failed to meet a number of critical deliveries. It was bad. She was let go. And Michael’s team was left to figure out how to get out of a very deep hole.
LAW OF HOLES 4: Don’t jump into someone else’s hole.
There are often plenty of holes dug by others that are tempting for you to jump into. Spending too much time in other people’s holes is the same as–or worse than–being in your own hole.
Some people go from hole to hole until they burn out trying to solve other peoples’ problems.
What might possess you to do something like that? You may be a natural helper or a people pleaser or someone with a soft heart.
Some people jump into others’ holes out of ego. They want to come to the rescue.
And some people jump in because of peer pressure:
“All my buddies are going to Las Vegas.”
“The whole team is going to happy hour.”
“The in-crown at work said this is a great investment.”
You need to set boundaries as to how deep and how often you will get into someone else’s hole. When I was a lifeguard we trained extensively on how to engage with a drowning person so that we didn’t become a victim in a double drowning. When considering jumping into a hole in order to help someone else, be certain you aren’t putting yourself at risk.
Life has more potholes than a Pennsylvania highway (being a native Pennsylvanian, I’m allowed to say that). The secret to living an abundant life or having an abundant business is to avoid as many of them as you can.
If you need help to get out or to avoid getting in, contact me. Sometimes holes are clearer “in eyes of strategist.”
When you are ready to create your abundant life, it’s time to ask and answer:
What do you actually, truly want?
Where are you lacking abundance?
Where are you taking joy in abundance?
However we define it, we all want an abundant life. The truth is that abundance is within reach for all of us. That’s what motivates me as a strategist: helping people reach new levels of abundance, however they define it.
Message me for more information on the ways you can work with me to achieve ever higher levels of performance and abundance in your life.
To Your Abundance,
Beth Strange
P.S. When you’re ready, below are some ways you can work with me to achieve ever higher levels of abundance. Please complete this Application to request an Initial Abundance Strategy Session
The Abundance Project: If you are an abundance seeker with new heights to achieve, you belong here with other extraordinary, good people in a high-level mastermind setting where you will work with me as your expert Strategist and The Abundance Project mastermind members to assist you as you define, create, and execute the strategic projects that will bring abundance into your business and your life. The Abundance Project is for you if you are ready and committed to exponentially increasing ABUNDANCE in your professional and personal life–abundance of time, money, opportunities, satisfaction, relationships–however you define abundance. Entered by this Application and invitation, The Abundance Project requires a 9-month commitment.
Abundance Performance Strategy: For abundance-seeking professionals, service-based entrepreneurs, and top performers. When you are ready to work with an expert Strategist to make the kind of exponential progress that would satisfy you and bring abundance into your business and your life. LET’S STRATEGIZE. I assist extraordinary professionals, entrepreneurs, and abundance performers like you to think and plan even bigger and overcome roadblocks to abundantly idyllic lives and businesses. I bring the experience, the training, the credentials and certifications, the scientific and strategic processes, and the expertise. You bring your ready willingness to try, to plan, to work, to change, to do, and to dream big, exciting, and fulfilling dreams. You will develop insights, breakthroughs, discoveries, and STRATEGIES. You will experience RESULTS. Together we will powerfully face and tackle your plateaus, your stress, your roadblocks, your overwhelm, your inferiority, your fears, your fatigue, your excuses. Abundance Strategy is NOT for the faint of heart. We will dive DEEP. We will work INTENSELY. We will strategize POWERFULLY. Apply here.
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