If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got

I can't remember who this piece of wisdom is usually attributed to, but it's bandied around in the coaching world a great deal.  It's very true, and many of us spend a lot of time wondering why we're getting the same results even though we're working as hard as we can.  Is it because we keep on thinking in the same old ways, which means we end up doing the same old things without realising it?

For example, I'm trying at the moment to find a new avenue for using my coaching and NLP skills, but somehow I always end up looking at the same job adverts - none of which meet my needs.  Why is this?  I've realised it's because I'm using old ways of thinking, which have lead me down the same paths to the same actions I have used in the past, rather than approach this new challenge from a completely different angle.

If we have a limited amount of time we are often reluctant to do something extra to make a situation different.  I think it isn't really necessary to just keep taking on more and more in order to make a change.  You can create a big change by thinking about only one small thing in a different way.  Once you start to think about something differently, you usually start to feel differently too.  The change I've made is by looking again at an area of work which, on the surface, appeared a bit mundane and unstimulating. Then I thought creatively about how I could use my coaching and NLP skills within it and actually make it into something which would be fulfilling and provide a new challenge.  I'm really excited now about how far I could develop this area of work.

So I suppose a change to the title of this blog might be 'if you think what you've always thought, you'll get what you've always got'.  Any comments or further ideas?