Play Mind Tricks
But wait!
At the back of your mind, you are thinking – is there another option? Options? You are thinking – I think I may have heard of something.
There is one: through a short sale. But again, it is not that simple.
In Constant Motion
I have a half-open book on my left, my cellphone removed from its case at my right, my computer open and my internet divided into 6 windows – my gmail, my blog, my bank, the latest topic I am researching, paypal and a website that I liked. Another open window is the company Lotus Notes, alerting me through a tiny beep from time to time that I have new mail and that I must open it asap.
My surrounding gives me the appearance of being busy, or always being in constant motion. Productivity. When I stopped just now, I find that my brain is betraying me because it is still thinking of other things to do. It is still “doing” (or wants to).
Have we lost the art of not doing anything (in the literal sense of the word)?… Wait, does it even exist?
Because even if we are at rest, we are not.
Where Angels Fear to Tread
In your mind, okay, I will let go of the house. I cannot pay it anymore. It makes no sense to pay for a steep mortgage when the value of the house has gone down by half. No sense. Everybody is doing it anyway. I should be fine.
You do it, sign the papers, let the bank foreclose and rest on your laurels.
Then while sitting on the living room of your new rented apartment, you get a bill, a huge tax bill because – guess what – you have made money on the foreclosure of your home. Money? But where is it?
Once Upon A Time
But (sigh), these are not the traits of a master sales (wo)man, traits that, Robert Kiyosaki assures me, will make me very rich.
Another Day
Indeed why wait for death, or why imagine that your children are waiting for your death, before giving your children what you are thinking of giving them anyway? But this is for another story and for another time.
In the year 2009, the world was rocked by stories of foreclosures, foreclosures which have been instrumental in bringing down the single most powerful economy in the world – that of the United States.
Flow
My husband and I, we are very enthusiastic persons. The idea of getting into a new business – except when it involves multi-level marketing, which does not float our boat – is enough to send us to euphoria. But of late, we have been a little selective and a little wary of the businesses we get into. We have been burned some of the time and if added up, those investments would run into the hundreds of thousands. Okay, okay, some are not yet “dead” but we worry about them constantly and we do not think that worrying is very good use of our time and our money.
Making the Wheels Turn
But when you need to, how do you inspire yourself?
No Business Like Show Business
I remember. It was more than 15 years ago when I produced my first show. It was in a southern province, accessible by land (8 hours) and by air (45 minutes). We partnered with someone who was introduced to us as the wife of a Brunei prince. Such was the rage at that time and many young women – some described as desperate, others gold diggers, others still victims of their own beauty (and another’s greed) – fell for the charms of dark-skinned princes, giving birth to scions of royalty.
Indeed she was beautiful and was moneyed and was very much interested in bringing to her hometown some showbiz denizens. “To make my mother happy,” she quipped.
The show was a moderate success and we learned a lot. One partner made some unnecessary trips by plane which added to the expenses; the people that we tapped to get sponsors did not deliver (they got zero sponsors); the souvenir program was overpriced (we ended up hauling the whole lot back to headquarters); it was not easy.
I was reminded again of these lessons when we did “Love in the Key of R”.