"When you're in a hole, stop digging."

Shoutout to my friend Wallis for sharing this thought with me. It is very simple, and I think it's the simplicity that made it so compelling. “If you’re in a hole, stop digging.”

How true is it that we find ourselves in a certain situation, usually at our own fault, only to think that we know how to fix it so we try and then just make it worse. I certainly can speak to this. When things go wrong for me they quickly get worse. I enable this to happen by taking a wrong responsive action, and it turns into a really slippery slope. This is because when things start to go wrong it creates discomfort, and as a byproduct our body produces adrenaline to prepare ourselves for the uncertainty, and often leads us to bad decision making.

But we can fix this, and David Meltzer puts it perfectly. He says stop, drop and roll. Specifically in this situation - Stop whatever you’re doing because it is taking you further off trajectory. Drop your negative thought patterns and recenter your emotional state. And then roll toward a more constructive and productive direction. 

This process keeps you from acting reflexively and helps you be more intentional with your behavior. So when you’re in a hole stop digging, and let that be the beginning of your solution.