I thought this story, an oldie but a goody, would be the very appropriate for the first article of the year. Enjoy!
Have you heard the story of the donkey that falls into a well?
The story is that the old donkey had been a part of the farmer's life since birth. The farmer loved the donkey and the donkey was a great donkey. One day, the donkey got too close to the well and fell in. The farmer was very dismayed. He knew if he didn't get the donkey out of the well, the much beloved donkey would die and ruin the water well at the same time.
The donkey was thinking the same thing. He wanted to live. He wanted to live another day to pull the plow, see the world, enjoy his life.
After several hours of contemplation, the farmer called in some of his friends. Within a few hours, they had all concluded that the only thing to do was to bury the donkey in the well and at the same time loose the water well by filling it in with dirt. So, they all grabbed the shovels and started throwing dirt in the well.
As you can imagine, our old donkey realized what was happening. He understood his beloved master had few other choices but he could not resign himself to die in this way. So, he decided - and you must decide too - to use every opportunity he had, even this one, to his advantage. He wanted to live.
So, with the determination required to overcome even these current economic times, the donkey began to shake the dirt off his back with every shovel load intended for his demise. But that was not enough. He determined that in addition to shaking the dirt off of his back that he would have to jump at every shake. As the shovels full of dirt where thrown into the well, to bury him, he developed a pattern of shaking and jumping, and then shaking and jumping and then shaking and jumping. As tired as this constant activity made him, he knew that it was working and that it would eventually lead to a positive outcome.
But about half way through, he became exhausted. He decided to rest. As the dirt from the shovels began to overtake him, as he realized that if he stopped now, he would surely die, and all of his past efforts would be in vain, he jumped as hard as he could. Since the dirt - comparable to a broker's lack of marketing to referral partners - had built up on his back and around his feet so that like concrete, it held him down and he was not able to jump very high. As a matter of fact, the first shakes and the first jumps seemed to be to absolutely in vain. But, he was determined. And he shook some more, and he jumped a little harder. He was determined but more importantly, he got his focus back. With all of his might, he determined, it was now or never and he shook and jumped as hard and deliberately as his more focused mind and body would take him. And with that focused effort, he overcame.
Over and over and over and over again, the donkey shook and jumped. He took what was intended to be the dirt that made his grave and with determined effort, over and over and over again, through his focused action, he turned the burial dirt into foundation dirt.
Eventually, as his foundation grew, he began to rise higher and higher in the well. Finally, the foundation was great enough that he just crawled out of the well. The farmer and the donkey were ecstatic.
Unlike many of your adversaries today, the various housing bills, the loss of warehouse lines of credit for non-bank mortgage entities, the continuous change of rules, the loss of housing values, the loss of the jobs of your customers, just determine to focus on what you know to do and then do it every day every day every day. And like the donkey you too will rise from what looks like your burial well to overcome and to excel.
This is going to be a great year. Are you ready?
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