Having watched and observed my kids since the day they were born, I’ve noticed a few things. Well, a million or 2 more than a few things. But one of the big, over-arching attributes is their ability to imagine, create and throw out ideas when they’re knee deep in one of their games.
These games are the kind of games that parents dream of. They can consume them for 2 or 3 hours at a time on a Saturday morning. They require little or no parental maintenance and generally cause minimal destruction to the house aside from the couch cushions being moved to the floor (you know…to create the ocean they need) or their beds being stripped in order to create the cave for the animals. Their 283 animals.
These games are based on 2 crucial elements.
1. Imagination
2. Being open to each other
One child will say “what about if….”. The other listens and in general is cool to go along with this new twist in the road. Then the other will say “why don’t we say that they…”. The other watches, contemplates and concedes. Or they say “sure, but can Serena (one of the dolls in question) go over to help Toothless (that’s the name of their snake of course) get to…”. And on and on the exchanges go.
Imagine navigating through these sorts of plot twists for 2 or 3 hours at a time!
So, what happens to us as we get older, more educated and theoretically smarter? Why when you put 5 adults around the table, do those “what if” and “why don’t we” ideas seem tougher to generate? Perhaps we binged on Netflix or had 7 too many beverages the night before. But perhaps it’s simply because we’ve lost the will to throw out our ideas and ‘what ifs’ for fear of our playmates not being willing to go along with the story.
Is this real estate related? I would argue it’s everything related. How we handle work challenges, new projects, shopping for birthday presents, interactions at the check-out counter, meetings with the boss, project proposals, suggestions to a co-worker and the list goes on.
So, when selling a house, maybe it is time to start asking the “what if” and “why don’t we” questions. And if you are on the other side of the table from the question, be open and willing to consider. Maybe it isn’t a terrible idea after all if Toothless goes up that hill to help Mr.Bacon (the pet pig….)
Now if you’ll excuse me, its time to go put the living room back together!
Thank-you for visiting.
THEbTEAM