Circles and spirals

Mountains are fractals, so it’s impossible to determine the size of this range without an external reference point. Our problems are the same way. (Image by mostafa meraji)

I figured something out recently that looked an awful lot like something I had figured out already.

It had to do with branding and business strategy, something I'm already pretty opinionated on. In short, I believe that a lot of the frameworks that are being presented as necessary and universal are not, and don't need to be implemented on a certain timeline (or at all).

So there I was, getting distracted by another branding and business strategy question when I already knew the answer that would resolve it: Just keep moving and you'll figure it out.

Whether or not you agree with me on this specific issue, I wonder if you can relate to the experience of being faced with a problem you think you've already solved for yourself or feeling forced to learn the same lesson over and over. Or maybe you spent hours or days on a problem only to come up with the same solution as the one you had previously discovered.

In such a situation, it can feel an awful lot like we're going in circles. How many times am I going to have to cover the same old ground? How many times will I be fooled in the same way? How many times will I have to repeat the same things I've already said, do the same things I've already done, or have insights I've already had?

I propose that these are not circles at all, but spirals. Spirals that move upward, in fact. We are always learning and growing, even when it doesn't feel like it.

There's no way you are losing ground that you had previously gained. Maybe you're losing it in a particular area—physical or mental health, finances, household maintenance—but you are always progressing on a spiritual level. Your experiences result in personal growth, even when they yield negative returns in some other way.

However, it does often seem that we encounter the same types of challenges over and over, even if we think we've moved past them our outwitted them. As Pete Townshend put it, "Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss." What's going on?

I assert that because growth is usually gradual and invisible, we've moved onward and upward without noticing. Even if we're dealing with the same old problems, we can spot them and solve them more easily. When we mess up, we are going to become aware of it more quickly, and we probably have better tools to guide ourselves through, or get ourselves out of, a difficult situation.

The choices we make in life might send us consistently in a particular direction. It makes sense, then, that we would consistently encounter certain types of situations. These situations will trigger the same types of responses in us until we deliberately change the pattern. Changing a pattern of responses is difficult but not impossible. We can also change the pattern of choices that sends us down a road we no longer wish to go down.

My background is in teaching—a helping profession—so when it came time to start a business, my focus was on helping people. Consequently, every decision I made was made with the intention of being helpful, as opposed to generating a profit. For years, I remained in this cycle, wondering why I was working so hard and generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue only to remain broke. It took a long time to recognize the pattern and shift it. Finally, I figured out a way to help people and generate a profit.

You could say I was just going around in circles, but that would discount not only the value of the years I spent and the lessons I gained, but also the urgency and intensity of the desire to change my situation. That desire grew every time I looped around to the same old "Why am I still broke?" problem. The potency of that desire is the foundation of a new career supporting small business owners. It may have felt like a ten-year spin in a centrifuge, but I was learning and building experience the whole time.

If you are frustrated by riding on what feels like the same old merry-go-round, consider that you are a different person than you were the last time and the time before. You're developing new insights and generating new powers. In fact, repetition is a formidable ally in achieving mastery. You're not going in circles—you're spiraling upward. Where will the ride take you next?