The most important thing to do if you find yourself in a hole, is to stop digging. – Warren Buffett

What  can I even say about this other than, well DUH!!!!  Except, often (at least for me) I will get into a difficult situation, and in trying to fix it, I often find that I’ve made it worse.  I realize that you can’t do NOTHING, but there is nothing wrong with taking a step back and re-evaluating the situation before you continue.

If you’re playing a game of dodgeball, generally, you’d just react.  You see the ball coming and you duck.  Just reacting works in dodgeball, but it doesn’t often work in life.  Take a second to step back and figure out what’s going on. Then you can figure out how to get out of that hole you’re in.