**The Weekly(ish) Bradical — Volume 011*
By Dr. Lyle K. Continuum, Visiting Fellow of Strategic Recurrence™
Author of the quietly disruptive “Again, But Better™: Repeating Outcomes with Renewed Language” and keynote speaker at the 2023 Annual Summit on Lessons Not Learned
⚓5 Bradical Ways to Pretend This Will Be Different This Time
There comes a moment in every organization… A moment where the room gets quiet. Slides are refreshed. Hope rebrands itself. And someone says: “This time, it’s different.”
It isn’t. But that’s not the point. The point is to believe it just long enough to proceed.
Let’s begin.
⚓1. Declare a Shift Before Changing Anything
Before action, there must be announcement.
“We’re approaching this differently now.”
No evidence required. Difference is not something you do. It’s something you state confidently in a meeting.
⚓2. Rename the Same Plan
Nothing creates the illusion of progress like vocabulary.
Old:
Roadmap – Strategy – Plan
New:
Framework – Initiative – Activation Model™
Same content. New fonts. Fresh optimism.
⚓3. Introduce a New Layer of Structure
When outcomes don’t change, add process.
More check-ins, more trackers, more alignment rituals.
You are not repeating mistakes. You are managing them more visibly.
⚓4. Distance Yourself from the Past Version of You
Key phrase: “We’ve learned a lot since then.”
Have you really? Unclear. But it creates just enough narrative separation to proceed without accountability. You are no longer the person who made the original mistake. You are the person who is about to make it again… with context.
⚓ 5. Commit Publicly, Adjust Privately
Say it loudly: “We’re fully committed to doing this right.”
Then, as reality unfolds: shift timelines, redefine scope, reinterpret success.
Quietly. Because the goal is not to be different. It’s to appear different at the point of commitment.
Closing Reflection
“This time” is not a time. It’s a feeling.
A temporary alignment between optimism, selective memory and presentation formatting
And while the outcome may be identical… The narrative?
Refreshed.
Stay consistent.
Stay selectively forgetful.
Stay Bradical.