You say 'no' - I say 'YES!'

If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.

I recall hearing this for the first time many years ago by someone who I would rate as one of my of my best bosses. It is so true. When you apply this to everything in life it rings true. Whether you apply it to your health, weight loss, success in career, school or university, returns from investment, family life - It all rings true doesn't it. If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you have always got.

We all have our own mindset, attitude, values and beliefs which have come about from when we were born and how we were brought up. They are built upon our environment and those who fill it, our influences and our role models. Our culture defines most of us. However why should something so intrinsic in us force us against being more.

I watched a UK made programme called "Grand Designs" the other week. The programme follows families who have found land and are looking to create their new home on it, in what is regarded as a grand design. They are never "run of the mill" creations they are truly different. Sometimes the outcomes for me are amazing, others not to amazing.

On the episode I watched recently there was a couple with 2 teenage kids who were building a home on some land they had purchased, however this land was limited in size and also linked to other houses in a terrace.

They needed more space and were completely limited to the scope, look and feel of the plans for their build. However this couple were different and their ability to think outside the box when it came to their meticulous planning allowed them to obtain results which the normal couple probably would not even consider.

Instead of settling for the space and the dimensions of what they had, the opted for a radical change to the shape and decided to build outside the box. Literally. They opted for an under the ground option to create vast amounts of space, including a nightclub, with flashing floor and the totally necessary enormous glitter ball (each to their own!) as well as more living space, sauna room and other bedrooms.

Now had the majority of architects looked at their "box", the contraints within which they had to work, most would not have suggested this option. Now I should add this build was not straight forward and fraught with complications however the way in which the couple approached and dealt with the issues as they arose was the difference between the project not being a unmitigated failure but a roaring success.

The husband, who was the architect, was so passionate about what they wanted and stopped at nothing to achieve the dream home for his family. His outside the box thinking truly allowed him to deliver something new, different and totally essential to creating their ideal home.

How often do we think like this? we often like to say our ideas are "outside the box thinking" but usually they are simply just a reinvention of the wheel. They may allow us to progress and achieve some of the goals we strive for however ultimately there is so much more to be gained and achieved through truly radical thinking. We mostly assume any extension to a home, is to the side or up (unless we already have basement space) however very rarely do we want to go under the surface and do something we have not seen done before. There is a fear in pioneering change in approaches or mindset however those who charge on fearless of success and failure are the ones who ultimately will succeed in all aspects of life, whether this is making money, healthy lives, great relationships and fabulous careers.

When it comes to your own work how often do we do what we always do and accept the outcomes. How often or should I say when was the last time you truly delivered on a goal which were it not for your fearless and strong willed mindset would never have been achieved.

Human nature instills in us routine and habit and there is no fault there, however for those of us who want to make a difference to our financial situation, our family life, our career or our health or our writing isn't it about time we started generating our own parallels to extending our home by digging underground?

The next hub you write or the next book you write, how different will it be to all the others written? How will you enable your hub activity to actually start providing the return on your writing time that you so desperately need or want? Are you going to be a hub leader or a hub follower, which by default so many of us become.

The next health kick you start, are you actually going to radically change your who attitude to eating and exercise so much as to change your mindset and body shape for good?

The next relationship you go into, how are you going to approach it so you are truly happy or have a get out clause when you feel it isn't working for you? Stagnated relationships are the worse kind yet so many of us stay in them because we fear being along or never finding anyone else. We are full of fear and this is what holds us back.

Those who look forward and not sideways achieve so much more than those looking all around for other ideas which have already been created. You are so much better than that.

It is not easy to think outside the box , nor is it easy to generate the creative approaches to make a huge difference to our lives however we certainly won't be able to generate anything if we continue to believe only a certain few are capable of "doing it differently from what has always been done"

No more always doing what you've always done and getting what you've always got! No please no!

Don't go with the flow, create your own flow and explore the unexplored and you just might amaze yourself with the outcome.