Carry On

It's easy to fight when everything's right,

When you're mad with the thrill and glory.

It's easy to cheer when victory is near

And wallow in fields that are gory.

It's a different song when everything's wrong,

When you're feeling infernally mortal.

When it's ten against one and hope there is none,

Buck up little soldier and chortle,

Carry on, carry on! There isn't much punch in your blow

You're glaring and staring and hitting out blind,

You're muddy and bloody but never you mind,

Carry on, Carry on.  You haven't the ghost of a show.

It's looking like death, but while you've a breath,

Carry on, my son, carry on.

(Robert W. Service quoted by Brian Tracy, "Success is a Journey", p.103-4)

I have been feeling a bit frustrated with the people I've been talking to lately about investing in my projects.  Life would be easy if we were in the lending frenzy of 2 years ago but things are not like that now.  So putting money together for a project has become the most challenging part of the task.  Right now I have a project that shows an estimated profit of about $100,000.  I need about $50,000 for the initial investment (and cost to change), property's current value is $380,000 and the future value is $540,000.  The worst case scenario is that we hold this property long-term with a positive cash-flow.  But everyone is so scared of the market that they are not thinking clearly anymore.  

I have additional projects that could move forward if the financing was there but this is one of those moments when things look bleak (feeling infernally mortal).  But I'll keep pushing forward.  There are level headed investors who'll recognize a good deal when they see it and I'll still make these projects work.

Embarking on a New Endeavor

"Whenever you embark on any new endeavor, you will be beset by countless little problems, details, unexpected irritations, difficult and dishonest people of all kinds.  They go with the territory.  They are an unavoidable part of the price you have to pay to accomplish anything new or worthwhile." (Brian Tracy, "Success is a Journey", p.84)

It seems to me that whenever you start a new project or begin a new idea there is a learning curve, a discovery of things you never knew you never knew.  The little problems and details come up because, at the start, you are unprepared for the situation.  But life teaches you what you need to know, if you are willing to learn from the experiences.  Most of the people I have dealt with so far, are unwilling to learn and falsely believe that everything should just work for them (maybe because they are somehow special).  But once you learn that thing you are prepared to work through or deal with those issues.  

Dishonesty is just something you have to deal with and be prepared for.  I believe that most people are honest, or trying to be so.  There are, however, enough people who allow themselves to be dishonest that you have to be prepared for the situation.  When we are preparing for a project we get at least 3 bids.  The lowest and the highest bids are often filled with problems.  The lowest bid provides a number, better than the rest, but then you find all the hidden charges on the back-end.  The highest number just builds those back-end cost up front.  So the middle bid is usually the most honest bid.

In spite of the problems of starting something new or worthwhile, it is still worth it.  We don't abandon ship just because there is a storm or something unpleasant.  We learn how to deal with the problem or learn how to avoid the problem in the future.  But we must learn to press on and make our visions of the future a reality.

The First Step

"I learned later that every successful enterprise, great or small, begins with a leap of faith, a driving into the dark, into the unknown.  Nature is kind to us in that she never lets us see to far ahead.  If we really knew all the difficulties, disappointments, temporary failures, and heartaches we would experience, most of us would not start out at all.  This applies to new businesses, careers, marriage, having children--and almost every other human endeavor."

(Brian Tracy, "Success is a Journey", p. 24)

Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,

When funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure turns about,

When he might have won had he stuck it out;

Don't give up though the pace seems slow,

You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out,

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far;

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,

It's when things seem worst that you must not quit

--Author Unknown

The Ant Philosophy

Jim Rohn gave the following:

"Over the years I taught children about a simple but powerful concept - the ant philosophy. I think everybody should study ants. They have an amazing four-part philosophy, and here is the first part: ants never quit. That's a good philosophy. If they're headed somewhere and you try to stop them; they'll look for another way. They'll climb over, they'll climb under, and they'll climb around. They keep looking for another way. What a neat philosophy, to never quit looking for a way to get where you're supposed to go.
Second, ants think winter all summer. That's an important perspective. You can't be so naive as to think summer will last forever. So ants are gathering in their winter food in the middle of summer.
An ancient story says, "Don't build your house on the sand in the summer." Why do we need that advice? Because it is important to be realistic. In the summer, you've got to think storm. You've got to think rocks as you enjoy the sand and sun. Think ahead.
The third part of the ant philosophy is that ants think summer all winter. That is so important. During the winter, ants remind themselves, "This won't last long; we'll soon be out of here." And the first warm day, the ants are out. If it turns cold again, they'll dive back down, but then they come out the first warm day. They can't wait to get out.
And here's the last part of the ant philosophy. How much will an ant gather during the summer to prepare for the winter? All he possibly can. What an incredible philosophy, the "all-you-possibly-can" philosophy.
Wow, what a great seminar to attend - the ant seminar. Never give up, look ahead, stay positive and do all you can."

What a great philosophy. I think we all need to think a little more like ants.

Self Deception - A Common Problem

I'm in the process of re-reading the book, "Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box," by The Arbinger Institute. This book explains that our lives are shaped and determined by our personal self-deception. I love the examples that is shared in the preface of the book:
"To give you an idea of what's at stake, consider the following analogy. An infant is learning to crawl. She begins by pushing herself backward around the house. Backing herself around, she gets lodged beneath the furniture. There she thrashes about -- crying and banging her little head against the sides and undersides of the pieces. She is stuck and hates it. So she does the only thing she can think of to get herself out -- she pushes even harder, which only worsens her problem. She's more stuck than ever.
"If this infant could talk, she would blame the furniture for her troubles. She, after all, is doing everything she can think of. The problem couldn't be hers, But of course, the problem is hers, even though she can't see it. While it's true she's doing everything she can think of, the problem is precisely that she can't see how she's the problem. Having the problem she has, nothing she can think of will be a solution."
Each of us falls into this category at some level or another. We are getting ourselves into problems, trying harder to get ourselves out and don't realize that we are the problem. Nothing we do will get us out of the problem we have created for ourselves. This books goes into the root of this problem and shows how this self-deception affects our lives and why we can't see the problem we're creating until we know what the problem is. I would recommend the book to everyone.