The
Simple Key
By John Willette
I was
sitting in my apartment and I heard a rustling at the door. It was the
management leaving a letter quoting the amount for next year’s lease. I opened
it up and of course they were raising the rent once again. The two years prior
they raised the rent 22 percent each year. The one for next year was going to
be another 15 percent. It was getting unmanageable. I sat in my chair at my
home office and held my head down. I said to myself I can’t do this anymore.
What am I going to do? I turned and looked up and on my wall was the answer. I
had posted something I had heard on a coaching call in a class that I had taken.
It said, “Can you make yourself do something you really don’t want to do to get
what it is that you really want?” The presenter stated that this was the simple
key to success and there really isn’t more to it. I remembered putting it up
because it’s simplicity made perfect sense and it stuck with me. I decided at
that moment that I was going to try to buy a condo or a house. I know what
you’re saying right now, big deal John lots of people buy houses. This is true
and I’ve had 3 houses myself. The difference now was because in 2006 I went
through a divorce and was left with a house I could no longer afford. I went
into a great amount of debt trying to keep it but I lost the house in spite of
it. I believed this was my greatest failure. My credit score went in the dumps.
Even two years ago I was turned down on a loan for a used car. I felt my
failure was hovering over me and would follow me for the rest of my life. I
knew that if I tried to buy a house all this would come back to haunt me. The
words that were posted on my wall started to fit. I told myself this is going
to be painful but no matter what I will follow through and see it to the end
whatever that may be. I called a realtor friend of mine from Toastmasters. I
told her I did not even know if I could get a house but I want to try anyways.
She said let’s see what we can do. We looked for houses that fit my parameters
and found one. Amazingly I was preapproved for a loan that would cover it.
Apparently my credit scores had been slowly but steadily been going up over the
years. She got me with her mortgage loan officer contact and then it began.
This was the part I feared the most. I had to once again face my failures. I
had judgments against me and negative credit marks. I had to settle the judgments
and write letters explaining why I had them. I had to write why my house was
foreclosed on and why I couldn’t pay certain debtors. These letters were the
hardest thing I’ve ever had to write. I did however turn the letter into a
positive one explaining what I have done since and how I’ve turned things
around. That somewhat made me feel better. Now I had to wait on a decision. In
the meantime I was paying for inspections, surveys, and deposits. I was putting
my money on the line for something I was unsure would even pan out. After providing
every piece of my financial life to them I finally got the word that I got the
loan and I closed on the house. The reason I am exposing myself to you about
this is that I want you to keep this question on your mind at all times: “Can
you make yourself do something you really don’t want to do to get what it is
that you really want?” It’s a simple question and it is the key to success. The
greater the discomfort you can live with the more successful you will be. If
the answer is “Yes” then you will achieve whatever you set out to do and that
is my hope for you.
