Thinking About the Rock That's Not In My Shoe

"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world because they'd never expect it." - Jack Handey

Jack was brilliant in his ability to have deep thoughts that made you think in a silly way about something that wasn't there before you heard his quote. I saw this image the other day and realized that most thoughts are really just thinking about thinking. Until there is something new in the equation, an upgrade to your source code, you just keep looping and looping and remembering things from your past - at best projecting old memories into the future, but still getting what you've always gotten.

Is there a rock in your shoe? You know if you have one, because if you don't you probably aren't thinking about it. If you have a rock in your shoe, what do you do? Do you keep walking and power through the pain? You probably stop and remove the rock and keep walking. The pain of stopping and taking time to remove the rock isn't as painful as continuing to walk with the rock in your shoe.

Seriously, how often do you stop and think about the fact that there is no rock in your shoe right now?

The rock serves a purpose, it calls for our attention, and it calls for action. We don't think about the things we don't know to think about... just like we don't think about the rock that is not in our shoe now. We just think about the things we already know. How does something new happen? How do we grow?

I was having a conversation with a loan officer that just completed our CLA course, and he said he didn't know he needed to be thinking about 'this stuff', and now that he does, he's thinking about it a lot. He's thinking about how he can help people in a totally new way, and that is energizing to him now. He was frustrated and thinking about leaving the industry but now he's rejuvenated. He upgraded his source code with new ideas, and that is leading to new possibilities.

The hard part is thinking about things that aren't there and appreciating the rock when it's there to teach us something. The industry today is difficult, with higher rates, and a shortage of inventory. That's a ROCK! It's asking for your attention to realize it's a time to stop, and think about how you invest the time you have now to prepare for the future.