What Do You Do When You Find Yourself In A Hole?

In Peter Block's book, The Answer to How is Yes, he tells us the story of an AT&T executive who would ask his team, "What do you do when you find yourself in a hole?" The answer is, "Stop digging."

Block goes on to say, "Most of the time, when something I am trying does not work, I simply try harder. If I am trying to control a business, a project, or a relationship and it is failing, then I doggedly do more of what is not working."

What if we instead took a different approach and actually "stopped digging?" What if we put down the shovel and said to ourselves, "This isn't working. I'm going to stop doing it, analyze why it isn't working, ask for my team's support on finding a new path, and then set a new course."

Wouldn't it be great to be out of the hole-digging business altogether? What hole are you currently digging that's getting too deep? Take the smart way out. Stop digging.