House To Home

Vacant land a better plan

Levi, Pipefitter Foreman for a construction firm that provides mechanical services to commercial facilities based in Vancouver, WA told Session 3 of the Leadership Development Lab™:

"In late summer of 2015, the life journey of building our own home began. We didn't like the traffic so close to our kid's play area and we decided to sell our town house in Yacotl, WA. Our townhouse sold quickly. Luck was with us and we were able to move into my wife's uncle's apartment at a great price. A year and a half went by. In the spring of 2017, we noticed a real estate for sale sign close to my in-law's house. It was a 7.5 acres parcel of bare land with lots of trees. That's what we had dreamed of, we made an offer and it was ours. We hired an architect designer to draw up the plans. As we reduced to paper our desires, the house of our dreams grew to much more than I had originally envisioned.

"In December of 2017, I applied for building permits and we started building in the spring of 2018. Now, the real challenge had begun. Every day we faced the challenges of dealing with materials acquisition, staging, and inspector visits. I was still working full-time, trying to help my wife with our three boys on top of the physical labor of building our new house. Starting with the framing, and I often worked until midnight. Family and friends helped a lot, and six months later we were finished. We had our dream home, a much quieter, safer place to raise a family. The trail through the woods to my in-laws for our boys to take to grandmother's house is a big plus.

"The lesson I learned from this experience is that I must take a risk and get out of my comfort zone to achieve my dreams.

"The action I call you to take is to take the calculated risks required to achieve your goals and make your dreams come true.

"The benefit you will gain is a life full of growth and achievement. You'll succeed and accomplish your goals and dreams."

Easy to read this story and say, "Yeah, I guess so," or "That's a nice story." This is more than a nice story. This is the story. When you are crowded and uncomfortable, in an unsafe place in life, you can be a victim, whine grumble and complain or you can move on and move out. Levi didn't know where he was going, he only knew he was moving out and moving on. If you are uncomfortable, this is your day to move out, and move on up. You will have the adventure of your life.

"Most people see what is, and never see what can be." - Einstein