For some reason I thought of this as I woke up yesterday morning.
Autobiography in Five Short Chapters by Portia Nelson
There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk
I
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.II
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I still don’t see it. I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
It isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.III
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it there, I still fall in.
It’s habit. It’s my fault. I know where I am.
I get out immediately.IV
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.V
I walk down a different street.
I suppose I thought of it because I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how most of our lives are run by habits — for good reason — and how we can change some of the habits that aren’t working for us. I also thought of a recent question by James Clear:
If your body could vote on your daily schedule, what would it immediately veto?
—James Clear
I receive Clear’s letter every Thursday, and I like a lot of what he says. But not this one. It violates one of the great principles of behavior modification:
It’s hard to stop a habit. It’s a lot easier — but often still challenging — to replace the habit with a better one.
That’s what Nelson does in her story. And no doubt that is why I still remember it after 30 or 40 years. 🙂
May 18, 2026
