How to Get What You Want

Bella is a quiet, mild-mannered 6-year-old that loves to play catch, go on walks and travel.    She is small, but not too small to step on or lose in your purse. She also is quite content hanging out and accepting the day as it comes, which may include encounters with domestic and wild animals or a road trip. She’s fine with it all. She’s also a rescue, sort of. Her human mama died recently, and she needed a new home with a gentle environment and lots of hugs. Bella is the perfect dog – for us.

Can Anything Be Perfect?

I say “perfect” a lot, and my friends call me on it. Perfect to me is when what we envision aligns with what shows up. And that’s why it is so important to know, as specifically as possible, what you want and what truly fits in your life. You have to be able to recognize it and then confidently say yes, or that opportunity may well scamper on over to the next nice family that buys more expensive treats.

In my family, we talked about adopting a rescue dog for a few years. We didn’t have the time to train a puppy, but we do take walks and enjoy hiking on trails. We travel a lot, but when we can’t take a dog with us, we have a great support crew of dog lovers.

With a mental vision firmly in place, you can recognize the answer when you see it bounce into your life with a ball in its mouth. That’s when decisions become easy. By sticking to your vision, there’s not a lot of room for vacillating, which can make Bella dizzy and a little nauseous.

Getting Crystal Clear

If you’ve ever bought a house, you know it’s a process. For a lot of buyers, it takes looking at many houses to narrow down what they really, really want and what will actually fit in their budget and lifestyle. Anyone who watches HGTV can understand how much patience realtors need to have sometimes when their clients continue to change their wish lists.

I had to walk away the other day when a couple with two children and a big dog told their realtor they needed a three-bedroom, two-bath home with a large yard. After looking at many possibilities that fit their price range, they changed their mind to a townhouse with two bedrooms, a tiny yard and an over-the-top lakeside view. That seductive sight cost them as much as a mortgage in monthly HOA fees and maybe some problems down the road with crowded, unhappy and perhaps vocal teenagers.

In business, we often see leaders make quick decisions, but I’m betting they’ve already done the work behind the scenes. They’ve played out different scenarios in their heads, done the research, sought out experts to answer their questions and have identified the best direction to go. So, when the right answer, product or potential new hire lands in their office, they know they have found the best solution, direction or fit and that’s why they don’t hesitate to make the decision.

But What About Accordion Glass Doors?

Great question. Bella is very focused on what she wants – usually a dog biscuit or walkies – and scoring either of those makes her happy. She gets what she wants. Perfect. We’re all happy. But we humans get distracted. For example, borderless, trendy accordion glass patio doors look so cool and they bring in so much light! They collapse right on top of each other and make a small living room look massive and super modern as they seamlessly let the outdoors in!

When you see these in a home, it’s hard not to want them, right now! When we think this decision through, however, they may not fit our budget or our lifestyle or our environment. Do you really want to leave your doors wide open that often in Arizona with temperature extremes, insects, allergens, smoke, dust and squirrels to consider?

Maybe you do, and that’s great. But that’s certainly something to think about before you buy the house with the amazing expensive collapsable window doors, invest in a remodel or make your realtor crazy.

Doing your homework, getting crystal clear on what you want and what will fit in your life and having the discipline to stay on your path toward that goal will likely lead to more “perfect” decisions, a lot of regret-free satisfaction and extra time for walkies. QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Bonnie Stevens is the editor of QCBN. She is a career journalist and public relations consultant. She can be reached at bonnie.stevens@gmail.com.

Photo by Bonnie Stevens: Bella gets what she wants.