Have you ever experienced the same thing several times and had the thought "Well, it happened again?" Since I have been a small business coach and educational consultant, I have this thought at least weekly and sometimes even daily.

Last week was a busy day for it happened again. One morning, I had an earlier scheduled business appointment in a major metropolitan city that required a 1.5-hour drive, parking in paid lot and a 20-minute walk. Upon arriving on time, I was asked to wait because the intended person was not in yet. After waiting 45 minutes with several calls to his cell phone as well as emails, the individual still had not responded. I left with assurances from the staff that he would be calling me soon. Seventy two hours later, I have yet to receive a phone call. And, yes, I did confirm the meeting with him via email.

On the drive home, I stopped at a fast food restaurant for a cold drink. When waiting to pay for the drink, the people in the car in front of me just casually discarded their trash in the parking lot even though a trash container was only a few feet away. Littering, another it happened again experience.

That afternoon, my husband waited for 2.5 hours for a confirmed appointment with the local cable company. When I made the appointment, I provided 2 phone numbers and confirmed with the cable company to use the cell phone number. The customer service person read back to me both numbers. Upon returning home, I received a voice mail that the cable person had arrived, but nobody was home. I check with my husband and he was in the living room the entire time waiting for the service person. When calling the cable company back, I asked if there was a second number and the response was No.

The it happened again experience seems to be very prevalent in today's fast paced world. Individuals fail to listen, employees fail to perform, and life just seems like a revolving door with one less than positive experience taking the place of another one.

The question then is What can I do for myself to ensure that the it happened again experience will not happen? In all honesty, probably nothing because the it happened again is usually out of one's control. However, what we as individuals can do is to reduce the number of experiences by these three simple tips.

1. Confirm all appointments either by phone or email and probably both.
2. When communicating, require the other person to repeat back all telephone numbers, names and any important information.
3. Model the behavior necessary so that no one will associate it happened againwith you.

The it happened again experience will always be with us because as humans we are subject to error. All we can do is to make sure that our behavior will not cause someone to think of us as a part of the it happened again.