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I was discussing a business issue with a consultant yesterday and he asked me a question I have often asked others.

“What are the consequences of not changing?”

It was weird to have someone ask me that instead of the other way round but it was a question I should have ben asking myself.  Thinking about the consequences of not improving/solving or completing a situation are a great leading indicator of incoming pain and whether we like it or not, pain is the great motivator.

There are many cliche’s around this but they are really true.

“Change only occurs when the fear of change is overtaken by the pain of your current situation.”

We run towards pleasure and away from pain.  That is true.  However our ability to tolerate pain is almost unbelievable.  It’s a bit like the frog in the pot story.  Because the pain levels often increase slowly, we don’t feel it until the waters boiling.

So as I read the international news overnight and see 24 hours of total carnage in the USA I can deflect that pain because it isn’t mine.  Well not yet anyway.  I can empathise with the millions of people whose lives are unravelling but it doesn’t motivate me.  Over 1 million homes sold at mortgagee is just a number.  Unemployment at 10% is just a number.  Every stockmarket in the world except Germany falling overnight is just information.

But if I lost my job, hello pain.  If I lost my life savings on the DOW overnight, THAT needs to motivate me.

I must find a way through the shock and disappointment and move to asking myself an empowering question.

“What are the consequences of not changing?”
“If I do nothing about this what will the pain levels ultimately be?”

I am finding that for many property people the pain of change is less than the pain of their current situation and this is ultimately going to be worse.

For example let’s say you are, like me, stuck with a trade gone wrong or just holding a negatively geared lemon for some reason.

Initially you think you’ll be able to sell it or ride it out so you top up the loan and try to get it sold.  So far so good, this is exactly what you should do.

But then the recession starts to bite and it becomes increasingly obvious that selling it may not work, so you look at the break costs to get the loan on to lower interest. Break costs are high and you’ve already spent most of your surplus cash on topping it up so you decide to “tough it out”.

Now your element has just been turned up but you didn’t notice.

So roll forward another 4 to 6 weeks and you have to start cranking up your credit card to meet the mortgage payments, you’re starting to simmer now .

You come and see someone like me to get some “professional advice” and you are told to sell at whatever level you can because that will allow you to fight another day and sitting where you are is not working.

Initially you feel better that you’ve taken some action and gotten some help but by the time you pull in the driveway you can’t believe you paid somebody to tell you to do what you have been trying to do all along.

You forget the many offers you had on the property that weren’t at a level you thought was “fair”, but were at levels you could have sold at, which is exactly what your advisor recommended you do.

So finally you miss a loan payment and contact the bank immediately going onto penalty interest and it’s so hard to see because of the boiling water getting in my eyes!!

For nearly all of us the pain doesn’t kick in till here and now we are out of money and options compared with what we could have done 6 months earlier.  But we hadn’t asked the right questions of ourselves then had we??

So my friends, in your investing, in your business and in your life today………

“What are the consequences of not changing?“

Stay Inspired and Stay Safe ~ Dean Letfus @ www.MassiveAction.tv

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