Pete & Repeat

Remember the childhood game (annoyance?) that went like this: "Pete and Repeat were sitting on a fence. Pete fell off. Who was left?" and your playmate would say "Repeat" which then started the whole process over again...and again. Even a third grader didn't have the patience to put up with that repetition for too long. And yet we do this playground game in our adult lives constantly. Infinite loops!

Think about the continuous, infinite loops you play in your mind. These loops are the messages or patterns or behaviors or thoughts or practices or tasks or what ever that keep going in the same direction over and over again, often not serving us. We all have them!

I am struck by the loops that keep us stuck. They are everywhere. If we keep telling ourselves that something is the way it is and will always be so, we are soon unable to break that pattern. We believe it completely. Loops I hear often:

• We are a small organization and therefore we can't do that...
• I cannot afford to have a development director...
• If my board would only do that, we could then...
• I cannot exercise regularly because...
• We can't work across department lines because they don't...
• My CEO/Executive Director is such a poor leader because...
  

Get it? These are loops that play again and again and don't allow anyone the opportunity to change. We hear the message so often we believe there is no other way. We are destined to be n bigger than the loop we keep playing. Infinitely.

So what gives?

I am curious, how do the loops you play serve you and/or your organization? What is the value they provide you? How do they enhance or take away from you and your success? What do you notice about breaking the loops? What does this process look like? Who else do you enroll in your loops? Whats the enrollment process look like (a gradual indoctrination or a hostage take over)? What would it be like to live/work/play loop-free? What would be possible?

Have a great week. Have a great week. Have a great week. Have a gre...