Working Through It

My dad used to say, “If it was easy, everybody would do it.” It turns out he was right. Solving real estate problems is rewarding because it’s difficult. When obstacles arise, you just have to work through them.

The good news is being unable to straighten that middle finger without a little pain makes it more difficult to tell someone they’re number one. (I am trying to straighten all my fingers in this picture. When the middle finger does straighten, it kinda clunks into formation.)

This post originally appeared on the Hermit Haus Redevelopment website on 2016-05-14.

We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.

—John F. Kennedy

I’ve reached the age where I’m starting to develop a little arthritis in my hands, especially my left hand. It’s gotten to the point where I often have to force a finger on each hand to unbend when I wake up in the morning. I can’t just open my hands like I could when I was twenty.

On my left hand, it’s my middle finger that gives me fits. The index finger isn’t much better. Any of you who play the guitar know just how important these fingers are to your chording and picking technique. Losing control of them made songs that of been easy for decades suddenly difficult to play. It undermined my confidence to the point where I began to doubt whether or not I could actually still play at all. I left my favorite guitar in the closet for months.

But here’s the deal: I took that guitar down off the shelf the other night, and I began to play. I was clumsy and slow. I had problems with the transition between chords—much more than I would have from simple rustiness.

But I kept playing, and I got better again. I wasn’t as good as I was when I was thirty and in practice. Those fingers thunked some of the bar chords instead of letting them ring true. I missed transitions as I moved up and down the neck. Runs were slower and clumsier than I was used to, even after a hiatus. It was physically (and euphoniously) painful at first, but I kept playing for the better part of an hour. The pain eased to a dull throb and then to a soft ache I could ignore.

When I got up the next morning, my hands both unclenched easily. After a week, I can say my hands are in much better shape on the mornings after I play my guitar for a half hour or more than on the mornings where I didn’t get a chance to play the night before. My hands may never let me return to the point where I could make a living playing again, but I can live with that.

So what does this story have to do with real estate or being an entrepreneur and running a small business? That’s easy. Just ask yourself one question. “Which part of the business am I most uncomfortable with?” Is it door-knocking? Negotiating the deal? Asking for private money? The rehab process? It doesn’t matter. Just answer the question and make yourself practice it a few times. You’ll get better and move past your fear.

For me, it was my hands. I was afraid that my hands would not let me play the guitar well enough even for my own enjoyment anymore. But I found that by just doing it I got better. I’m not afraid anymore. I’m still uncomfortable, but I’m not afraid.

Working through mental discomfort is no different than working through physical discomfort. It requires effort and persistence. Now the trick is to apply that lesson to other areas of my business—to cherish the discomfort until it no longer impedes me.

Wish me success. Qapla’!