We are in the middle of a series called What It Takes To Succeed In Self Storage Today.
I realized after working with so many people assisting them in getting in self storage that what it took to be successful was not the “information” I was teaching. Yes, they had to know it to be successful, but I began noticing that people who got in the business knew exactly the same things as the people who I worked with that didn’t.
I have learned that to be successful in anything, but especially self storage today, it is not a function of what you know.
Yes, you have to know a lot of things, but knowing them guarantees nothing. Most people who fail in life know quite a lot.
No, it was something different. What I am calling the “mindsets.” This episode is about the third mindset. I have called it “Problems And Obstacles Are Part of The Process” Mindset.
Problems
Now every time I say something like this, we all say, “…yes that is true.” We intellectually, “agree.”
But we sure don’t act like it.
Look at yourself. What was the last or current “problem” you had? Lots of them right now (like I have)?
How does it feel? Like they should be there?
Most humans have a very week relationship with problems.
If we are honest, our “real belief” about problems is that they should not be there.
If things were going the way they should be… or… if I was who I should be… or… if so and so was doing what they should be doing… there would be no problems.
Most of us are personally insulted that we have to deal with problems.
I have noticed, at least about myself, who I am being is, “This should not be happening to me.” I think I have also seen this in various ways with just about everyone.
If I go deeper, the belief behind it is, “Problems should not be.”
At least that’s is how I and almost everyone I deal with acts.
We say a different game, but how we act and who we are being is “Problems should not be.”
The Problem With “Problems Should Not Be”
So if the underlying belief we have been taught and were born into is “Problems should not be,” and we live a life in a world riddled with problems…we have an issue.
Getting in or growing a self storage business is no different.
We get it. We understand self storage is the way to go. We organize ourselves around getting into this fantastic business. Then what happens?
Problems and challenges. And if our undistinguished underlying belief is “Problems should not be,” …more often than not, we are prevented from moving forward.
But it goes deeper than even this.
The real issue isn’t just that we act as if we can handle problems with a real, underlying belief that “Problems should not be,”; the real issue is “we deal with the same problems over and over and over again.”
Look at every problem you are dealing with today, right now (of course, this implies an honest look).
I will bet money, let’s say $1,000, that the problems you are dealing with are familiar. Perhaps the cast of characters has changed (most likely not) -perhaps the circumstances are a little different, but the problem is a replay.
Again, like last week, it is not personal to you. As human beings, we tend to have the same problems over and over again.
The same boring problems again and again.
Look at them right now. They are a recycled problem.
That is because we have a weak relationship with problems.
For us, problems are always because someone or some circumstance caused something to happen, that is a problem for us. Even if we have the insight to say we caused the “problem,” it is usually quickly followed by the excuse… the market is too high… there was a recession going on… lending is very tight… on and on.
All valid, but allowing our week relationship with problems to continue.
So can you get our real relationship with problems is “Problems should not be.” (hint…if you can then something else starts to be possible).
In Life and Business, There Are Problems
Using last weeks’ process (Blog and YouTube Video), what if we replaced our underlying belief that “Problems should not be” with “In life and business there are problems.”
No, really, in life and business there ARE problems.
Our job is to create a really big, cool, great problem, not the same old boring ones we have dealt with over and over.
You know what they are for you:
- Not enough money in my account, or
- I can’t seem to get ahead, for every step forward, I take two back, or
- So and so doesn’t understand me or listen to me, or respect me
- You fill in the blank
Let’s dump those problems and create really big ones.
Think of anyone who inspires you.
Try Martin Luther King, or pick anyone.
MLK had some big problems. He wasn’t sitting around thinking about his checking account. He took on a BIG problem, racial equality.
Think of Elon Musk. Regardless of your thoughts about him from the recent media, he has taken on a problem called “Colonize Mars.”
Now those are cool problems.
Problems worthy of their lives. Problems worth dedicating a life to solving.
I remember putting my first storage project under contract. It was unclear how I was going to close it, but I thought I needed to create a new and big problem for myself. I was tired of my same old problems.
Quality of Your Life
What if creating that quality of life is a function of the quality of the problems you create for yourself?
This is not “true,” but it sure beats “problems should not be.”
The people I have seen get in the business and be successful have a more powerful relationship to problems than most.
They see the challenges and problems as a prerequisite to having the muscles required to be successful. They have, in one way or another, terminally killed the underlying belief that we are all born into that “problems should not be.”
If you want a big life, create big problems.
It is who we get to be as we become a match for the problems we create that gives life and business fulfillment.
I believe at the end of my life I am not going to be thinking about the IRR or cash-on-cash return this or that project made, but I will be thinking about who I had to become and who I got to be in life to take control and create our self storage business.
